Everyday LifeGreek → English
Tiffany
/ˈtɪfəni/noun
A female given name, and a name for fine transparent silk gauze.
The Greek roots
θεός
theós
god
φαίνειν
phaínein
to show, appear
Literally: “showing of God”
The story of the word
Behind it is θεοφάνεια, the appearance of God, which came through Late Latin Theophania into Old French as Tiphaine and was given to girls born at Epiphany on 6 January. It faded to a surname in England, then returned as a first name in the twentieth century, helped by the New York jeweller and by Truman Capote. The old textile sense, thin silk gauze, seems to come from the same feast, perhaps from clothes worn for it.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old French → English
Same family
epiphanytheologyphenomenondiaphanous
In a sentence
Tiffany took the early shift so she could pick up her brother.