Etymology
The cloth covered button on the crown is about the size of a bean and may be the origin of the term "beanie," though some academics believe that the term is derived from a type of headgear worn in some medieval universities. The yellow hats ("bejaunus," that is, "yellowbill" later "beanus," a term used for both the hats and the new students) evolved into the college beanies of later years. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the etymology is uncertain, but probably derives from the slang term "bean", meaning "head". In New Zealand, Australia, the term "beanie" is normally applied to a knit cap known as a tuque in Canada and parts of the US, but also may apply to the kind of skull cap historically worn by surf lifesavers and still worn during surf sports. The non-knitted variety is normally simply a "cap" in other countries.
In the United Kingdom, the term "Benny Hat" may also refer to this style of headcovering. This name originally comes from the character "Benny", played by actor Paul Henry in the 1970s British Crossroads Soap Opera, who always wore a knitted version of hat.
Read more about this topic: Beanie (North America)
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)