ombrella
ombrella
Italian (from Latin umbra, 'shadow')
“An umbrella is literally a 'little shadow' — from the Latin umbra — because it was invented for shade, not for rain, and using one in the rain was considered strange until the eighteenth century.”
Ombrella is Italian, diminutive of ombra (shadow), from Latin umbra (shadow, shade). The word names a shade device, not a rain device. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans used parasols — held by servants over royalty — for protection from the sun. The word parasol, from Italian para (against) + sole (sun), names the same object by its function against the sun. Umbrella names it by its effect: a little shadow.
The umbrella was used for rain in China for centuries, with waterproofed paper and oiled silk. But in Europe, the umbrella was a sun device until the eighteenth century. Jonas Hanway, an English traveler, is credited with popularizing the umbrella as rain protection in London in the 1750s and 1760s. He was mocked for it. Hackney coachmen — whose business depended on people needing rides in rain — reportedly threw garbage at him. A man using a shade device against rain was ridiculous.
The British eventually adopted the umbrella so thoroughly that it became a national symbol. The English gentleman with his tightly furled umbrella is an icon of British culture — from Neville Chamberlain's umbrella at Munich to John Steed's umbrella in The Avengers. The word 'brolly' (British slang for umbrella) is as British as 'lorry' or 'queue.'
The umbrella remains a shade device in most of the world. In Japan, China, India, and Southeast Asia, sun umbrellas are more common than rain umbrellas. The word's original meaning — a little shadow — is the primary meaning in most languages and cultures. Only in rain-soaked northern Europe did the umbrella become a rain tool, and only in English did the sun meaning nearly disappear.
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Today
The umbrella is so universal that it has become a metaphor: an 'umbrella term' covers multiple categories, an 'umbrella organization' oversees multiple entities. The word for a little shadow became the English word for anything that covers and protects multiple things underneath it.
A Latin word for shadow became an Italian word for a little shade device became a British word for a rain tool became an English word for anything that provides broad coverage. The shadow expanded. The umbrella was always about protection. What it protects against — sun, rain, or conceptual disorganization — depends on who is holding it.
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