I don't seem to recall the word fedora being used in 1920s-50s writing. They called it a snap-brim or mostly just a hat.
Is fedora what the wordnerds call a retronym – a term invented after something is superseded by a new thing? Like acoustic guitar or analog watch?
The word Fedora is associated with an opera or a play that goes back quite a ways. It may have been a charector name, but i am not sure. How and when it becomes associated with the hat, I don't know.
Can't wait to see the research on this from the gang!
Blue Skies!
The play was FEDORA by Victorian Sardou
Sardou, Victorien
(born Sept. 5, 1831, Paris, France-died Nov. 8, 1908, Paris) French playwright. He owed his initial success to the actress Pauline Déjazet, for whom he wrote several of his 70 works, including A Scrap of Paper (1860). Several later works, including Fédora (1882), were written for Sarah Bernhardt. His La Tosca (1887) was adapted by Giacomo Puccini as an opera. His last success was Madame Sans-Gêne (1893). In 1877 he was elected to the Académie Française. His plays rely heavily on theatrical devices and plot contrivances, and he is remembered as a craftsman of the bourgeois drama that George Bernard Shaw belittled as “Sardoodledom.”
PS I have a copy of the book, FEDORA by Victorien Sardou. It is over 100 years old.
"Wadda ya hear, wadda ya say?"
"Tempus Fugit"
I always figured that since they were so common at that time, a "hat" was a FEDORA and didn't need further description. Same with "cap." Now the terms have completely different meanings, so we must be more specific.
Death is very often referred to as a good career move
-Buddy Holly
I don't think they called it a tricorn when it was in vogue. a bowler was probably called a bowler and a Fedora was probably just a hat.
I do not think we even have a name for fedoras in Serbia. We just call them hats.
Another interesting thing: name we use for top hats is cylinder and the name for bowler is semi cylinder. Are these names ever used for hats in english language.
Not in American English, that's for sure.
Originally Posted by qwerty
Every language seems to have its own name (or even names) for the top hat. In Chile, it's called a "sombrero de copa", or "champagne glass hat". Even in English, it's also called a "plug hat". And don't forget the extra tall "stovepipe" hats from Lincoln's day.
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Jay, think you hit the nail on the head !
Also for a alot more things we say now. I remember my grand parents saying things that at the time I was coming up [1960s-70s] that I thought they had no idea what they were saying much less what it meant.
RBH
__________________________________________________ _____________________________
''I won't be wronged.
I won't be insulted.
I won't be laid a-hand on.
I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.''
*John Bernard Books- 1901*
The Fedora was not really the snap-brim.
Snap-brim means the front of the Brim being curved down, and the back on the brim curved up. Not unique to a fedora, but highly common!
Toppers have been called many things though the ages.
Plug hat (as looked like old bath plug!)
Herbert Johnson (mid - late 1800's main manufacturer - similar concept with Hoover and vac cleaner)
Stovepipe is a form of Topper, with Straight Edges, and a Chimney Pot is a Stovepipe with slightly curved bell crown (a lot of stove pipes are described inaccurately)
Germany calls it the Zyllinder.
France calls it the Chapeau Haut de forme.
UK & US calls them Topper or Top hats..... Though not always. They used to be just called a 'Silk Hat' or 'Beaver Hat' from around the 18th century up to mid 20th century. The word Top became more common from late 19th century, as prior to that, nearly all men’s silk or beaver hats were Toppers, so the word Top was not needed. When referring to a different style made of same material a descriptive word would be used - e.g. the Silk Bicorn Hat or the Ladies Silk hat.
This was also the case in France and it was also simply called the Chapeau de soie
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