Symone
McCoy
Linguistics
Dr.
Walts
March
16, 2015
Biography of a Word
For my biography of a word project,
I chose to examine the word “porcelain”.
As an English major and one time biology major, I had heard “porcelain”
utilized in a multitude of ways and in many texts/literature. Whether it’s being used to describe a person’s
features or carved into a particular shape/structure, the word porcelain is
very captivating due to its multiple purposes and duality as both an adjective
and a noun. Furthermore, porcelain has a
long history and played a vital role in some of the economic and social
structures of developing countries, allowing them to thrive and expand within
the trade systems during much of the 1600’s B.C. and beyond.
When initially starting my project,
I chose the word porcelain because I loved the way it sounded and by just
saying the word, I was able to picture in my mind the idea of porcelain
dinnerware and other fancy things which porcelain is used to make. However, once I began dissecting the word and
learning more about its origins, the concept and idea of porcelain is more
complex and dynamic than I originally imagined.
Concerning porcelain’s origin, the word derives from the Italian word porcellana, which is used to describe
egg shells. Porcelain evolved out of
that word because of its natural look and structure, which resembles both the whiteness
and fragility of an egg shell. Furthermore,
in my initial search I had found that porcelain also had other origins in both
the French and Chinese language as well, and no one was really able to tell
which culture first discovered porcelain, but many assume it was the Chinese
due to their overwhelming monopoly and utilization of the material within both
their art work and trade.
According to the Oxford English
Dictionary, one of the first known records of the word porcelain was documented
within one of the log books of Peter Martyr d’ Anghiera, an Italian historian
who traveled around the world during the Age of Exploration. During his trip, he documented that in 1555
B.C. he came across “two vessels made of the fine earth called Porcellana” (Oxford
English Dictionary). Concerning, this
particular trip, historians are unsure as to where Anghiera was at the time
when he came across these porcelain figures.
Although it can be estimated that since Anghiera was doing most of his
writing and travels during a time when Europe was fascinated with Asia and
Chinese culture, due to the increasing popularity of the spice trade, many
believe that he was one of the first historians to come across and document
porcelain art coming from China.
Concerning the other variation of
the word porcelain, in which people use it to describe someone’s appearance as
either being fair or fragile, one of the first known pieces of documented
literature comes from Richard Brome’s The
Sparagus Garden, in which he describes one of the women within his play as having
skin “of the purest piece of Purslane” (The
Sparagus Garden, 1640). This use of
the word had become popular during later years and is featured again in other
literary works such as Lord Byron’s Don
Juan, William Faulkner’s Sanctuary,
and most recently featured in the New Yorker in an article by Daniel Raft on
the night life of New York City.
Regarding the word porcelain in
terms of art, the material has been used by many and is a type of ceramic
substance which can be formed by heating the materials at a very high
temperature within a kiln. An
interesting misconception and misuse of the word porcelain comes in when people
utilize the word to describe something as being fragile, because in reality
porcelain is very durable and has a particularly strong resistance to
breaking. According to the Dictionary of
Anthropology, porcelain might have been mistaken for china or bone china, which
are materials also used in the arts which look very similar to porcelain, but
they are more fragile and tend to break easier.
Over the years the word porcelain
has stayed pretty stagnant and isn't heard of much in general conversation, but
there are a few key phrases still used in popular culture which apply the
word. Some of these are the porcelain throne, which refers to a
toilet, and a popular Chinese comic strip entitled The Porcelain Princess.
Overall, I have discovered that the word porcelain has a rich and
dynamic history which makes this particular word very interesting.
Works Cited
“Porcelain,
n. and adj.” Merriam-Webster.
Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web.
“Porcelain,
n. and adj.” OED Online. Oxford
University Press, December 2014. Web. 8 March 2015.
Seymour-Smith,
Charlotte. “Porcelain.” Dictionary of
Anthropology. Boston, MA: G.K. Hall, 1986. 205-06. Print.
