Haberdasher

Haberdasher

Paavo Nurmi, in 1939, at his Helsinki haberdashery
Occupation
Occupation type
 Clothing
Activity sectors
 Retail
Description
Competencies Sewing, tailoiring
Related jobs
 Tailor

A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zips (in the United Kingdom[1]), or a men's outfitter (American English[2]). The sewing articles are called haberdashery, or "notions" (American English).

A haberdashery in Brussels

Origin and use

A haberdasher's shop in central Madrid

The word appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.[3] Haberdashers were initially peddlers, thus sellers of small items such as needles and buttons. The word is thought to have no connection with an Old Norse word akin to the Icelandic haprtask, which means peddlers' wares or the sack in which the peddler carried them.[4] If that had been the case, a haberdasher (in its hypothetical Scandinavian meaning) would be very close to a mercer (French).

Since the word has no recorded use in Scandinavia, it is most likely derived from the Anglo-Norman hapertas, meaning small ware.[5] A haberdasher would retail small wares, the goods of the peddler, while a mercer would specialize in "linens, silks, fustian, worsted piece-goods and bedding".[6]

Saint Louis IX, King of France 1226–70, is the patron saint of French haberdashers.[7][8] In Belgium and elsewhere in Continental Europe, Saint Nicholas remains their patron saint, while Saint Catherine was adopted by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers in the City of London.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1989: "A dealer in small articles appertaining to dress, as thread, tape, ribbons, etc.
  2. ↑ Collins Dictionary of the English Language (1979)
  3. ↑ "The British Library, The Canterbury Tales, Caxton's first edition". Molcat1.bl.uk. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  4. ↑ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1989: haberdash, n. "Connexion with mod.Icel. haprtask 'haversack' is not possible."
  5. ↑ "Online Etymology Dictionary". Etymonline.com. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  6. ↑ Sutton, Anne F. (2005). The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130–1578, p.118. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0-7546-5331-5
  7. ↑ "Catholic Culture, St. Louis IX". Catholicculture.org. 2008-08-25. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  8. ↑ "Patron Saints Index". 2heartsnetwork.org. 2011-02-16. Retrieved 2014-06-12.
  9. ↑ "Company HIstory". Haberdashers. Retrieved 2014-06-12.

External links

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