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You are here: Home / Language / How did the word “pannier” originate and What does pannier mean in French?

How did the word “pannier” originate and What does pannier mean in French?

May 12, 2020 by Karen Hill

When introduced from France in the thirteenth century, the word “pannier” denoted nothing more than a basket, originally for the carrying of bread, whence its name, from the Latin panarius, bread basket.

But it had also come to mean a fish basket or, if of larger size, a basket for the carrying of provisions of any kind.

When someone in later centuries conceived the brilliant notion of balancing two of these larger baskets across the back of a donkey, these too became panniers.

It was but a step, then, to transfer the name to the basket-like frames which, at the demand of fashion, women affix beneath skirts to extend the size of the hips.

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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