Online Encyclopedia

GOSSAMER

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 268 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOSSAMER  , a

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fine, thread like and filmy substance spun by small
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spiders, which is seen covering stubble fields and gorse bushes, and floating in the air iii clear weather; especially in the autumn . By transference anything
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light, unsubstantial or flimsy is known as "gossamer." A thin gauzy material used for trimming and millinery, resembling the " chiffon " of to-day, was formerly known as gossamer; and in the early Victorian period it was a
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term used in the
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hat trade, for
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silk hats of very light
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weight . The word is obscure in origin, it is found in numerous forms in
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English, and is apparently taken from gose, goose and somere, summer . The Germans have Madchensommer, maidens' summer, and Altweibersommer, old
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women's summer, as well as Sommerfaden, summer-threads, as
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equivalent to the English gossamer, the connexion apparently being that gossamer is seen most frequently in the warm days of
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late autumn (St Martin's summer) when geese are also in season . Another
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suggestion is that the word is a corruption of gaze a
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Marie (
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gauze of Mary) through the legend that gossamer was origin-ally the threads which fell away from the Virgin's shroud on her assumption .

End of Article: GOSSAMER
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