Haberdasher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers.[1] In U.S. English, haberdasher is another term for a men's outfitter.[2] A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.
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[edit] Origin and use
The word appears in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Haberdashers were initially peddlers, sellers of small wares such as needles, buttons, etc. The word could derive from the Icelandic haprtask "peddlers' wares" or the sack in which the peddler carried them. In this sense, a haberdasher (Scandinavian name) would be very close to a mercer (French name). 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".[3]
Saint Louis IX, the King of France 1226–70, is the patron saint of haberdashers.[4][5]
[edit] Notable Haberdashers
- William Adams - a 17th century London Haberdasher born in Newport, Shropshire, who founded Adams' Grammar School in 1656
- Robert Aske - a philanthropist
- Johnny Carson - of The Tonight Show
- Captain James Cook, (R.N., FRS) - 18th century British navigator and explorer, apprenticed to this job in his youth
- Daniel Defoe- the famous writer of Robinson Crusoe
- John Graunt - one of the first demographers
- Christopher Lloyd - actor, e.g. Dr. Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy
- Wayne Knight - actor, most famous role: "Newman" from Seinfield
- Joseph Merrick, "the Elephant Man", worked as a haberdasher's assistant before being a freak show act
- George Newnes - founder of the Tit-Bits newspaper (1881) and the popular The Strand Magazine, of Sherlock Holmes fame
- Paavo Nurmi - legendary Finnish distance runner
- Charles Taze Russell - the founder of the Bible Student Movement, which he developed and renamed to the Jehovah's Witnesses
- Harry S. Truman - President of the United States from 1945-1953[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, 1989: "A dealer in small articles appertaining to dress, as thread, tape, ribbons, etc.
- ^ Collins Dictionary of the English Language (1979)
- ^ Sutton, Anne F. (2005). The Mercery of London: Trade, Goods and People, 1130-1578, p.118. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0754653315
- ^ Catholic Culture, St. Louis IX
- ^ Patron Saints Index
- ^ NOVA #1001
