chiffonier

[prettygoodword]

On to words from Busman's Honeymoon:


chiffonier (shif-uh-NEER) - n., any of several pieces of furniture, esp. (a) (UK) a low set of shelves, sometimes protected by a grille door, or (b) a tall, narrow chest of drawers, typically with a mirror attached on top.


The American version:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

Also historically, a shallow, tall set of shelves for the display of china, and one can imagine divergent streams of modifications that give us the two most common modern meanings. Also, I've no idea what the word means in Canada, as up there they sometimes follow North American usage and sometimes British. From French, obviously, where the original meaning was rag-picker (from chiffon, rag/scrap), suggesting the original furniture so named was for storing odds and ends.

---L.

Comments

[ionelv]

What I love is how far and wide the original French word spread:

The French word chiffonnier (originally a rag-picker, later a type of tall chest of drawers) was borrowed and adapted by many languages. It entered English, German (as Chiffonniere), Spanish (as chifonier), Italian, Dutch, Swedish, and Russian.The word's journey into other lexicons varies in form:

• English: Adopted directly as chiffonier to describe a tall, narrow chest of drawers.
  
• German & Nordic Languages: Borrowed as Chiffonniere in German, which then influenced variants like sifonér in Swedish and chiffonier in Danish.
  
• Romance Languages: Adapted as chifonier in Spanish and accepted directly as chiffonier in Italian and Catalan.
  
• Eastern & Middle Eastern Languages: Borrowed into Romanian as șifonier, Russian and Ukrainian as шифон'єр, and even found in languages like Arabic, Persian, and Turkish.
  

[prettygoodword]

It's like a river delta debuching across Europe.

[full_metal_ox]

Sounds so much classier with the etymology sanded off, doesn’t it? Like a repository for elegant formal chiffon garments (although those would be better stored on hangers.)

[oracne]

Such a great word.