hapertas
hapertas
uncertain
“Haberdasher is among the most etymologically mysterious trade words in English — its origin is genuinely unknown. It may derive from an Anglo-French word for a small wares dealer, or from a German cloth term, or from something else entirely.”
The etymology of haberdasher has defeated lexicographers for centuries. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that the word appears in English from the 14th century (as haberdasher, hapertas, haburdasshe) but the origin is unknown. Theories include: a corruption of a German or Flemish word for a type of cloth; a derivation from Anglo-French hapertas (a type of cloth or small ware); or possibly an agent's title from an otherwise unknown word. The mystery is genuine.
Whatever the origin, the English haberdasher specialized in small wares: pins, needles, thread, tapes, ribbons, small leather goods, and accessories for clothing. They were the notions dealers — supplying the fasteners, trimmings, and accessories that made garments functional and decorated. The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers was incorporated by charter in 1448 and is one of the Great Twelve livery companies.
American English made haberdasher mean specifically a men's clothing retailer — shirts, ties, hats, and accessories. Harry Truman worked as a haberdasher in Kansas City in the early 1920s; his men's clothing store failed during the 1921 recession. Truman & Jacobson was dissolved in 1922. The failed haberdasher became the 33rd President of the United States.
The Haberdashers' Company now mainly focuses on education: it sponsors several schools (Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, Girls' School) that are among the most academically selective in England. The small-wares dealer's professional descendants teach mathematics and Latin in Hertfordshire.
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Today
The haberdasher sold what held everything together: the pins and needles and thread and tape that kept garments intact. Without the haberdasher's stock, nothing fit, nothing fastened, nothing was quite finished.
The word whose origin is unknown survives in schools that teach everything. The mystery of the etymology produced a trade that produced an institution. The pins and needles became examination results and university places.
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