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Origin and history of tutu

tutu(n.)

ballet skirt made up of layers of stiff frills, 1910, from French tutu, alteration of cucu, infantile reduplication of cul "bottom, backside," from Latin culus "bottom, backside, fundament" (from PIE *kuh-lo- "backside, rear;" source also of Old Irish cul "back," Welsh cil "corner, angle"), but the ultimate origin is obscure [de Vaan].

also from 1910

Entries linking to tutu

arse-smart

also ars-smart, the herb Persicaria hydropiper (formerly Polygonum hydropiper), early 14c., from arse + smart (n.) in the "pain" sense. The herb also formerly was called culrage (early 14c.) and now is often smartweed (1786).

The arse smart name is a direct translation of the Old French cul rage, from Old French cul (see tutu) + rage (see rage), which is said to be from Latin culli rabies, but this term is apparently unattested. The French word might be a folk etymology.

cul-de-sac(n.)

1738, as an anatomical term, "a diverticulum ending blindly," from French cul-de-sac, literally "bottom of a sack," from Latin culus "bottom, backside, fundament" (see tutu). For first element, see tutu; for second element, see sack (n.1). Application to a street or alley which has no outlet at one end is by 1819.

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Trends of tutu

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

More to explore

recoil
c. 1200, recoilen, transitive, "force back, drive back, beat back" (senses now archaic or obsolete); c. 1300, intransitive, "shrink back, retreat," from Old French reculer "to go back, give way, recede, retreat" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *reculare, from Latin re- "back" (see re-)
skirt
early 14c. (mid-13c. as a surname), "lower part of a woman's dress," the part that hangs from the waist, from Old Norse skyrta "shirt, a kind of kirtle;" see shirt, which is from the Old English cognate, and from which it is not always distinguishable in early use. The sense deve
pink
1570s, common name of Dianthus, a garden plant of various colors; a word of unknown origin. It is perhaps from pink (v.) via the notion of "perforated" (scalloped) petals. Or perhaps it is from Dutch pink "small, narrow," itself obscure (compare pinkie), via the term pinck oogen
firmament
mid-13c., "expanse of space above the earth where the heavenly bodies move," hence "the arch or vault of the heavens, the visible sky" (c. 1300), from Old French firmament or directly from Latin firmamentum "firmament," literally "a support, a strengthening," from firmus "strong,
Russia
nation in Eastern Europe with a large possession in north Asia, 1530s, from Medieval Latin Russi "the people of Russia," from Rus, the native name of the people and the country (source of Arabic Rus, Medieval Greek Rhos), originally the name of a group of Swedish merchant/warrior
prerogative
"special right or privilege granted to someone; characteristic right inhering in one's nature, office, or position," late 14c., prerogatif, (in Anglo-Latin from late 13c.), from Old French prerogative (14c.) and directly from Medieval Latin prerogativa "special right," from Latin
conspiracy
mid-14c., "a plotting of evil, unlawful design; a combination of persons for an evil purpose," from Anglo-French conspiracie, Old French conspiracie "conspiracy, plot," from Latin conspirationem (nominative conspiratio) "agreement, union, unanimity," noun of action from past-part
communism
1843, "social system based on collective ownership," from French communisme (c. 1840), from commun (Old French comun "common, general, free, open, public;" see common (adj.)) + -isme (see -ism). Originally a theory of society. As the name of a political or economic  theory w
fall
Old English feallan (class VII strong verb; past tense feoll, past participle feallen) "to drop from a height; fail, decay, die," from Proto-Germanic *fallanan (source also of Old Frisian falla, Old Saxon fallan, Dutch vallen, Old Norse falla, Old High German fallan, German falle
myriad
1550s, "the number of 10,000," also "an indefinitely great number," from French myriade and directly from Late Latin myrias (genitive myriadis) "ten thousand," from Greek myrias (genitive myriados) "a number of ten thousand; countless numbers," from myrios (plural myrioi) "innume

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