# Etymology of "Silhouette" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 26, 2001, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889 "2001-09-26T11:37:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/1 "2001-09-26T11:37:47Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/2 "2001-09-26T11:46:54Z")
Um. It was his name. Silhouettes are named after Etienne de Silhouette, whose hobby was making paper profile portraits. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/3 "2001-09-26T12:14:31Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/4 "2001-09-26T12:31:21Z")
**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. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/5 "2001-09-26T12:38:49Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/6 "2001-09-26T13:33:32Z")
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: > [@](#): > > According to the usual account, which is that given by Mercier _Tableau de Paris_ 147, the name was intended to ridicule the petty economies introduced by Silhouette while holding the office of Controller-general in 1759, but Hatzfeld & Darmesteter take it to refer to his brief tenure of that office. Littré, however, also quotes a statement that Silhouette himself made outline portraits with which he decorated the walls of his château at Bry-sur-Marne. 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. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2001, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/7 "2001-09-26T14:30:24Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2001, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-silhouette/83889/8 "2001-09-27T03:12:21Z")
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](http://www.word-detective.com/072999.html#silhouette). 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](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/epc/langueXIX/&prev=/search%3Fq%3D%2522Hatzfeld%2B%2526%2BDarmester%2B%2522%26hl%3Den) Hope that url works.