• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer
Zippy Facts Logo

Zippy Facts

Interesting Random Facts

  • Animals
  • Culture
  • Firsts
  • Food
  • Geography
  • Health
  • History
  • Inventions
  • Language
  • Mythology
  • Odds
  • People
  • Religion
  • Science
  • Space
  • Universe
  • World
You are here: Home / Language / Where does the word “tapestry” come from and What does tapestry mean?

Where does the word “tapestry” come from and What does tapestry mean?

March 19, 2020 by Karen Hill

The art of decorative weaving seems to have been well developed in many of the Oriental countries long before it was learned in Europe, and Persia, especially, has long been known for the craft of its weavers in turning out fine fabrics.

Thus it is probably from the Persian that the word tapestry stems, though it has been traced with certainty only back to the Greek tapes, “cloth wrought with figures in various colors.”

The diminutive is tapetion, and this was taken into Latin as tappetium or tapetium from which it spread into the Romance languages as tapiz, finally settling in French as tapis.

One who wove such figured cloth was then called, in French, a tapissier, and his products were known, collectively, as tapisserie.

This is the form that was taken into English as the ancestor of our present word, with the spelling tapissery, which spelling was very soon corrupted to that still used.

Related Facts

  • What was the European Age of Exploration?
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed Our Lives Forever
  • Top 25 Inventions That Changed the World
  • The History of the Dictionary
  • The Best 20 Inventions Ever Invented
  • Where does the word “viscount” come from and What does viscount mean?

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.

Previous Post: « Where does the word “recipe” come from and What does receipt mean?
Next Post: How did the Ant Lion get its name and Where does the term Ant Lion come from? »

Footer

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Pinterest
  • StumbleUpon
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Categories

Accomplishments Animals Culture Firsts Food Geography Health History Inventions Language Mythology Odds People Religion Science Space Universe World Your Body

About

Zippy Facts empowers the world by serving educational content that is accessible to everyone.

A tribute to growing up, zippyfacts.com showcases interesting and unusual facts about the world.

Our mission is to use technology to facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing.

Copyright © 2020 Zippy Facts

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy