Want to remove ads? Log in to see fewer ads, and become a Premium Member to remove all ads.

Origin and history of doublet

doublet(n.)

mid-14c., "type of tight-fitting men's outer garment covering the body from the neck to the hips or thighs," from Old French doublet (12c.), from diminutive of duble "double, two-fold," from Latin duplus "twofold, twice as much" (see double (adj.)).

From 16c. to 18c. doublet and hose meant "typical male attire." From 1550s as "one of two things that are alike," originally of words in the same language differing in form but from the same ancestral word.

In philol., a duplicate form of a word ; one of two (or, by extension, three or more) words originally the same, but having come to differ in form, and usually more or less in meaning. Doublets are very common in English. They usually consist of an older and a later form, the older being generally descended and the later directly borrowed from the same original (as benison, benediction; malison, malediction, etc.), or two accidental variations of one original, sometimes slightly discriminated (as alarm, alarum, etc.), or of a standard literary and a dialectal form (as church, kirk; lord, laird, etc.). [Century Dictionary]

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to doublet

double(adj.)

c. 1300, "twice as much or as large," also "repeated, occurring twice," also "of extra weight, thickness, size, or strength; of two layers," from Old French doble (10c.) "double, two-fold; two-faced, deceitful," from Latin duplus "twofold, twice as much," from duo "two" (from PIE root *dwo- "two") + -plus "more" (see -plus).

From early 14c. as "having a twofold character or relation," also "consisting of two in a set together; being a pair, coupled." From mid-14c. as "characterized by duplicity." The earliest recorded use in English is c. 1200, in double-feast "important Church festival."

Double-chinned is from late 14c.; double-jointed, of persons, is by 1828. Military double time (1833) originally was 130 steps per minute; double quick (adj.) "very quick, hurried" (1822) originally was military, "performed at double time."

The photographic double exposure is by 1872. The cinematic double feature is by 1916. Double figures "numbers that must be represented numerically by two figures" is by 1833. Double-vision is by 1714. Double indemnity in insurance is by 1832; double jeopardy is by 1817. The baseball double play is by 1866.

Double trouble "twice the trouble" is by 1520s; in 19c. America it was the name of a characteristic step of a rustic dance or breakdown, derived from slave dancing on plantations. A double-dip (n.) originally was an ice-cream cone made with two scoops (1936); the figurative sense is by 1940. Double bed "bed made to sleep two persons" is by 1779. Double life "a sustaining of two different characters in life" (typically one virtuous or respectable, the other not) is by 1888.

singlet(n.)

"unlined woolen garment," c. 1746, from single (adj.) in the clothing sense of "unlined, of one thickness" (late 14c.) + -et, apparently in imitation of doublet. In later use especially such a garment worn as an undershirt or under-vest.

*dwo-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "two."

It might form all or part of: anadiplosis; balance; barouche; between; betwixt; bezel; bi-; binary; bis-; biscuit; combination; combine; deuce; deuterium; Deuteronomy; di- (1) "two, double, twice;" dia-; dichotomy; digraph; dimity; diode; diphthong; diploid; diploma; diplomacy; diplomat; diplomatic; diplodocus; double; doublet; doubloon; doubt; dozen; dual; dubious; duet; duo; duodecimal; duplex; duplicate; duplicity; dyad; epididymis; hendiadys; pinochle; praseodymium; redoubtable; twain; twelfth; twelve; twenty; twi-; twice; twig; twilight; twill; twin; twine; twist; 'twixt; two; twofold; zwieback.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit dvau, Avestan dva, Greek duo, Latin duo, Old Welsh dou, Lithuanian dvi, Old Church Slavonic duva, Old English twa, twegen, German zwei, Gothic twai "two;" first element in Hittite ta-ugash "two years old."