I was flipping through the dictionary today, and while looking up some other word, I found that “Silhouette” is named after an 18th-century French statesman, de Silhouette. What is his connection with the word?
Um. It was his name. Silhouettes are named after Etienne de Silhouette, whose hobby was making paper profile portraits.
Silhouette was a finance minister and was known for some financial plans that turned out to be rather thin and shadowy (a pun – but it’s true his methods of raising money were usually disappointing failures). About the same time, the art of cutting paper into a recognizable profile developed. Because there was so little there, people were reminded of Silhouette’s schemes and drew the parallel.
Crusuoe smartass! 
Methinks I could figured out it was named after him. I was looking for something a little more substantial… Something along the lines of Reality Chuck. But is that a serious answer? It seems a bit fishy, for some reason.
Eh, I wasn’t trying to be clever (honest). I just didn’t see what was odd about something being named after a person who created (or at least became known for) that thing.
Etienne de Silhouette was an author and politician who lived from 1709 to 1767.
Taken from the entry under silhouette in the OED on-line:
I have no idea who Hatzfeld & Darmester or Littré are, but if the OED uses 'em as sources, who am I to argue? At least in this case.
OK, Crusoe, I see what you’re saying. But I was looking for something a little more in-depth, I guess. Something more biographical, perhaps, why he in particular became associated with the word. Was he the first to do it? Did he popularize it? Was he the great ambassador of silhouette artistry? That sort of thing. And it seems according to the OED and courtesy of Olentzero that there are differing accounts over why this particular term was named after Monsieur Etienne.
Evan Morris goes with the “Silhouette was a cheep bastid and everyone knew it. So cheep cut-out portraits came to be known by his name” theory. Word Detective. Sounds like the best theory.
And, if you want to know about those ‘furin’ sounding guys quoted by the OED, they were 19th Century dictionary/etymology guys in France. http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/epc/langueXIX/&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%22Hatzfeld%2B%26%2BDarmester%2B%22%26hl%3Den
Hope that url works.