My daughter asked about this one as she was cutting up some paper doilies for valentines she was making. It was a quick answer, but one I’d certainly never investigated before, so I thought I’d share.
So doily as we know it is a shortening of doily-napkin, and dates from 1714. It refers to the light, lacy item made from doily–a thin, woolen fabric. It’s supposedly named for a dry-goods dealer in London. The surname comes from Normandy, and before it was specific to thin, lightweight woolens, it was used to mean “genteel and affordable woolens.” So whoever the Doily [d’Oilly] family was, they apparently carried textiles worthy of fame!
Now, stay tuned! Tomorrow I’ll be participating in a fun scavenger hunt to kick off the release of The Lost Girl of Astor Street!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.