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Origin and history of powder

powder(n.)

"fine, minute, loose, uncompacted particles," c. 1300, poudre, "ash, cinders; dust of the earth;" early 14c. of any pulverized substance; from Old French poudre "dust, powder; ashes; powdered substance" (13c.), earlier pouldre (11c.), from Latin pulverem (nominative pulvis) "dust, powder" (source also of Spanish polvo, Italian polve; see pulverize).

The insertion of the unetymological -d- was common in French (compare meddle, tender (adj.), remainder; see D). German has it as a doublet; Puder via French and Pulver from Latin. From mid-14c. specifically as "medicinal powder;" specialized sense of "gunpowder" is from late 14c. In the sense "powdered cosmetic," it is recorded from 1570s.

Powder keg "small barrel for holding gunpowder" is by 1820; the figurative sense ("something likely to explode easily") is by 1895. Powder room, euphemistic for "women's lavatory," is attested from 1936. Earlier it meant "place where gunpowder is stored on a warship" (1620s). Powder monkey "boy employed on ships to carry powder from the magazines to the guns" is from 1680s. Powder blue (1650s) was smalt (powdered glass containing cobalt) used in laundering; as a color name from 1894.

The phrase take a powder "scram, vanish," is from 1920; it was a common phrase as a doctor's instruction, so perhaps the notion is of taking a laxative medicine or a sleeping powder, with the result that one has to leave in a hurry (or, on another guess, from a magician's magical powder, which makes things disappear).

Avis dropped an exhausted little heap onto her aunt's bed. She put her hand over her heart and said piteously, "Oh, Aunt Joyce, I mustn't ever do that again. My heart's going awful fast. I shall have to take a powder. Wasn't it fun though-" Avis' dark eyes flashed. [from "The Evolution of Avis" in The Connecticut School Journal, Jan. 9, 1902]

When the wife of your breast has confessed she has drest

On just triple the sum you allowed her,

And has run up long bills for her frocks and her frills—

Take a powder, my friend, take a powder.

[from "The Panacaea," in Punch, Dec. 14, 1901]

Powder in the wind (c. 1300, meaning powdered spices) was a Middle English image of something highly valued but flawed in some way that renders it impermanent or doomed to loss (of virtues without humility, etc.).

also from c. 1300

powder(v.)

c. 1300, poudren, "to put or sprinkle powder on;" late 14c., "to make into powder," from Old French poudrer "to pound, crush to powder; strew, scatter," from poudre (see powder (n.)). Specifically as "to whiten cosmetically by some application of white material in powder form" is from 1590s. Related: Powdered; powdering.

also from c. 1300

Entries linking to powder

fourth letter of the Roman alphabet, from Greek delta, from Phoenician and Hebrew daleth, pausal form of deleth "door," so called from its shape.

The form of the modern letter is the Greek delta (Δ) with one angle rounded. As the sign for "500" in Roman numerals, it is said to be half of CIƆ, which was an early form of M, the sign for "1,000." 3-D for "three-dimensional" is attested from 1952.

Unetymological -d- is the result of a tendency in English and neighboring languages, perhaps for euphony, to add -d- to -n-, and especially to insert or swap a -d- sound when -l- or -r- follow too closely an -n-.

Compare sound (n.1), thunder (n.), pound (v.), spindle, kindred, strand (n.2) "fiber of rope," dialectal rundel, rundle for runnel. Swound was a form of swoun (swoon) attested from mid-15c, and used by Malory, Spenser, Lyly, Middleton, Beaumont & Fletcher. Also obsolete round (n.) "whispering," variant of roun "secret, mystery, divine mystery" (from Old English run, source of rune), with unetymological -d attested by 15c. in the verb.

Among the words from French are powder (n.), meddle, tender (adj.), remainder, gender (n.), also riband, jaundice. It is less evident in spider (an agent noun from the Germanic *spin- root), and perhaps explains lender in place of loaner.

meddle(v.)

early 14c., "to mingle, blend, mix" (a sense now obsolete), from Old North French medler (Old French mesler, 12c., Modern French mêler) "to mix, mingle, to meddle," from Vulgar Latin *misculare (source of Provençal mesclar, Spanish mezclar, Italian mescolare, meschiare), from Latin miscere "to mix" (from PIE root *meik- "to mix").

From late 14c. as "busy oneself, be concerned with, engage in," and in the disparaging sense of "interfere or take part in inappropriately or impertinently, be officious, make a nuisance of oneself" (the notion is of meddling too much), which is the surviving sense of the word. From mid-14c. to c. 1700 it also was a euphemism for "have sexual intercourse." Related: Meddled; meddling.