A Christmas tree decorated with tinsel, mid-1970s. A tree with shiny, metallic strips and other decorations hanging from it, surrounded by toys.
14 December 2021
Today we know tinsel as the shiny, faux-metallic strips that are used to decorate Christmas trees and other holiday displays. Originally metal threads, tinsel is now usually made from plastic. The word comes from the Middle French étincelle, which in turn is from the Old French estincelle and then from the Latin scintilla, meaning spark. The initial <e> was dropped (via aphesis) either in later Middle French or soon after it was borrowed into English.
Tinsel originally referred to cloth interwoven with gold or silver thread. Here we have an example from c.1448 of horse with such a covering:
And wher that it was so that on John Gladman of Norwich which was ever and at this oure is a man of sad disposicion and true and fethful to God and to the King, of disporte as is and ever hath ben accustomed in ony Cite or Burgh thrugh al this reame on fastyngong tuesday made a disporte w[ith] his neighburghs having his hors trapped with tyneseyle and otherwyse dysgysyn things crowned as King of Kristmesse in token that all merthe shuld end with ye twelve monthes of ye yer.
(And where it was so, one John Gladman of Norwich, who was ever and at this hour is a man of steadfast disposition and true and faithful to God and to the King, of amusement as is and ever has been accustomed in any city or borough throughout all this realm, on Shrove Tuesday made an amusement with his neighbors having his horse draped with tinsel and other ostentatious things crowned as King of Christmas in token that all mirth should end with the twelve months of the year.)
Use of tinsel to refer to the thread itself comes a bit later. Here is an example from Thomas Nashe’s 1596 Have with You to Saffron-Walden, or Gabriell Harueys Hunt is Up. The piece was written as part of the Martin Marprelate affair. An anonymous writer using that pseudonym (probably Job Throckmorton) wrote a series of pamphlets attacking the Anglican Church and its bishops, and a series of pamphlets on both sides of the controversy were penned by various writers. In Nashe’s case, his involvement developed into a feud with Gabriel Harvey. In this piece, Nashe is responding to something Harvey wrote about him. I include the extended quotation because it is a superb example of the insulting tone of the whole affair:
Amongst the which number, is a red bearded thrid-bare Caualier; who (in my hearing) at an ordinarie, as he sat fumbling the dice after supper, fell into these tearmes, (no talke before leading him to it) There is such a Booke of Harueys (meaning this his last Booke against mee) as I am a Souldiour and a Gentleman I protest, I neuer met with the like contriued pile of pure English. O it is deuine and most admirable, & so farre beyond all that euer he published heretofore, as day-light beyond candle-light, or tinsell or leafe-gold aboue arsedine; with a great many more excessiue praises he bestowed vpon it: which authentically I should haue beleeued, if immediately vpon the nicke of it, I had not seene him shrug his shoulders, and talk of going to the Bathe, and after like a true Pandar (so much the fitter to be one of Gabriels Patrons) grew in commending to yong gentlemen, two or three of the most detested loathsom whores about London, for peereles beauteous Paragons, & the pleasingest wenches in the world; wherby I guest, his iudgment might be infected as wel as his body: & he that wold not stick so to extoll stale rotten lac'd mutton, will like a true Millanoys sucke figges out of an asses fundament, or doo anie thing.
(Amongst that number is a red-bearded, threadbare cavalier, who (in my hearing) at a tavern, as he sat fumbling the dice after supper, fell into these terms (no talk before leading him to it). There is such a book of Harveys (meaning his last book against me), as I am a soldier and a gentleman I protest, I never met with such a contrived pile of pure English. O it is divine and most admirable, & so far beyond all that he published heretofore, as daylight is beyond candlelight, or tinsel or goldleaf is above arsedine, with a great many more excessive praises he bestowed upon it: which authentically I should have believed, if immediately upon the nick of it, I had not seen him shrug his shoulders and talk of going to the Bathe, and after like a true panderer (so much the fitter to be one of Gabriel’s patrons) grew in commanding to young gentlemen, two or three of the most detested, loathsome whores about London as if they were peerless, beauteous paragons and the most pleasing wenches in the world. Whereby I guessed his judgment might be infected as well as his body, & and he would not stick to so extol stale, rotten mutton, would like a true Millanoys suck figs* out of a donkey’s ass, or do anything.
*What figges means here is obscure. The word can plausibly mean literal figs, hemorrhoids, or worthless things.
And around the same time, tinsel came to denote something that was showy and ostentatious, but ultimately worthless. From Jeremy Taylor’s 1660 Doctor Dubitantium:
There is more gold now then before, but it is more allayed in the running, or so hidden in heaps of tinsel, that when men are best pleased, now adays they are most commonly cozened.
The association of tinsel with Christmas was in place by the end of the eighteenth century. There is this from a 13 January 1797 letter by Horatio Walpole:
Pray send me no more such laurels, which I desire no more than their leaves when decked with a scrap of tinsel, and stuck on twelfth-cakes that lie on the shop-boards of pastry-cooks at Christmas.
And this from Eleanor Moore’s 1819 novel Eveleen Monjoy:
This ceremony was followed by the arrival of several “Carollers,” an assemblage of old women and children, singing Christmas hymns, some of whom carried a little box containing a waxen virgin and child, reposing on cotton wool, holly berries and tinsel.
Speaking of showy and ostentatious, Hollywood has been dubbed Tinseltown. That nickname dates to the 1930s. Here’s an example from Ontario’s Windsor Daily Star of 5 January 1938 that also goes in for body-shaming women, another feature Hollywood is known for:
MILDRED HARRIS CHAPLIN, former wife of the film comedian, is shown as she impersonated Greta Garbo on the stage of a Philadelphia burlesque theatre during a recent engagement there. She denies she’s making a “comeback,” and says her ambition is to be a radio singer. Plumper than in the old glamorous days, she defends that on the grounds she’s healthier than most girls. And she’s writing a book, to be called “Tinseltown, or the City of Lost Angels,” and it’s about Hollywood.
Sources:
Anglo-Norman Dictionary, 2007, s.v. estencele.
Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330-1500), ATILF - CNRS & Université de Lorraine, 2020, s.v. étincelle.
“Ex-Mrs. Chaplin as Garbo” (photo caption). Windsor Daily Star (Ontario), 5 January 1938, 1. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
Hudson, William and John Cottingham Tingey, eds. “Presentments Connected with the Foregoing Disturbances Prepared Against Tudenham, Heydon and Others, c. 1448.” The Records of the City of Norwich, vol. 1 of 2. Norwich: Jarrold and Sons, 1906, 345. HathiTrust Digital Archive.
Middle English Dictionary, 2019, s.v. tinsel n.3.
Moore, Eleanor (Mrs. Robert). Eveleen Monjoy: or, Views of Life, vol. 2 of 4.. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, 1819, 228. Nineteenth Century Collections Online.
Nashe, Thomas. Have with You to Saffron-Walden, or Gabriell Harueys Hunt is Up. London: John Danter, 1596, sig. G2r. Early English Books Online (EEBO).
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. tinsel, n.3 and adj.
Taylor, Jeremy. Doctor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience. London, James Flesher for Richard Royston, 1660, 164. Early English Books Online (EEBO).
Walpole, Horatio. “Letter XXII” (13 January 1797). The Works of Horatio Walpole, vol. 5 of 5. London: G.G. and J. Robinson and J. Edwards, 1798, 675. Eighteenth Century Collections Online.
Image credit: unknown photograph, Germany, c.1975. Public domain image.