AidanEM

Word Family - Silhouette

Introduction

Étienne de Silhouette, a French politician of Basque ancestry, was the Controller-General of Finances under Louis XV in 1759. His measures to curb the national debt, notably by imposing new taxes on the rich and the nobility prompted a backlash and ultimately his dismissal after less than a year leaving the work unfinished. This lead to the derogatory phrase (faire quelque chose) à la Silhouette to mean "(to do something) in a cheap, miserly, or unfinished way".

Around the same time, black paper silhouette portraits became popular in France, and were derided as a cheap option for portraits—portrait à la Silhouette.

The name Silhouette is from Basque Zulueta (archaic variant Zilhoeta), from Basque zulo: "hole, pit, hiding place, cave". Spanish silo is of unclear origin, it may be from zulo. Or silo could be from Greek σιρός siros: "pit, pitfall, pit for storing grain", but that is again of unclear and probably non-Greek origin—maybe the same European neolithic substrate as underlies the Basque?

Teaser

silhouette, silo

Full Text

European substrate?
- Vasconic *zuLo
  - Basque zulo hole, pit, hiding place, cave
    
    Basque zulogune gully, depression
    
    Basque Zulueta placename: Cave-place, also habitational surname
    
    French Silhouette
    
    French silhouette
    
    English silhouette
    
    Japanese シルエット shiruetto silhouette
    
    Polish sylwetka figure, silhouette
    
    Spanish Zulueta
    
    Spanish silo silo
    
    English silo
    
    Japanese サイロ sairo silo
    
    French silo silo
    
    Persian سیلو silu silo
    
    Russian силос silos silo from Spanish plural silos
    
    Spanish zulo cache, hiding place
- Pre-Greek
  - Classical Greek σιρός sirós pit, pit for storing grain, pitfall
    
    Latin sirus pit for storing grain, underground granary
    
    Spanish silo silo
    
    English silo
    
    Japanese サイロ sairo silo
    
    French silo silo
    
    Persian سیلو silu silo
    
    Russian силос silos silo from Spanish plural silos
    
    Classical Greek σιρομάστης siromástēs gauge for measuring stored grain lit. "pit-searcher"
    
    Latin siromastes

Visual

Collected English words

silhouette, silo

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