History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 142
Dornick (1489), a silk, worsted woollen or partly woollen fabric used for hangings;
also a kind of linen cloth used in Scotland for the table; the name of a Flemish town (in
French, Tournai), applied to certain fabrics originally manufactured there.
In the modern period there is a large group of words which are the names of cloths
made abroad and imported into England under their foreign names. As in Middle
English many of them are named after their place of manufacture.
Bruges (1517), the French name for the Flemish city of Brugge, used attributively in
Bruges satin, the name of a kind of satin manufactured at this town.
Cambric (1530), a kind of fine, white linen made originally at Cambrai; in the 16th
century the forms were camerick(e) or camerick, from Kameryk or Kamerijk, the
Flemish name of Cambrai. Stammet (1531), a woollen fabric; ad. OF. estamet, from
estame and -et, diminutive suffix, but Du. has stamet, woollen yarn, and this may be
the immediate source of the English word.
Calamanco (1592), a woollen stuff of Flanders, glossy on the surface and woven with
a satin twill and chequered in the warp so that the checks are seen on one side only,
much used in the 18th century; the origin of the name is unknown, but Du. has
kalamink, kalmink, and the Eng. word is probably from this with the -co ending
possibly by analogy with Calico (recorded first in 1540).
Salempore (1598, W. Phillips, trans. Linschoten), a blue cotton cloth formerly made at
Nellore in India, and largely exported to the West Indies, where it was the usual slave
cloth; the Du. name for it was salamporij (17th century), and the first English
occurrence is in the translation of a Dutch book; Mr. C.L. Wrenn's suggestion that the
origin of the word is Salem, the name of a south Indian town, and pore, city, town, is
probably correct.
Slyre (1621, from Sc.), a fine kind of linen or lawn; ad. LG. sleier, slijer, fine linen, veil.
Duck (1640), a strong, untwilled, linen fabric, lighter and finer than canvas; apparently
ad. 17th-century Du. doeck, linen or linen cloth (Hexham, 1678).
Barras (1640), the name of a coarse linen fabric imported from Holland; Dutch barras
is mentioned in a charter of 1640 granted by Charles II to the City of London, and
Bense supposes it to be a Dutch borrowing, though there seems to be no word
corresponding in either form or meaning in Du., Flem., or LG.
Gimp, Gymp (1664), silk, worsted, or cotton twist with a cord of wire running through
it; Du. gimp in the same sense appears in Jacob Cats (died 1660) earlier than the first
example of the English word, and so it may have been borrowed from Du.
Duffel, Duffle (1677), a coarse woollen cloth having a thick nap or frieze; it is named
after the place of manufacture, Duffel, a town of Brabant, between Antwerp and
Mechlin.
Burlap (1695), originally perhaps a sort of holland, now a coarse canvas made of jute
or hemp and used for bagging; Bense suggests that it is from an unrecorded Du.
*boerenlap, in which boeren is meant to express the same notion that it has in
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