try wearing a Jacket


Middle English jaket, from Old French jaquet, diminutive of jaque, short jacket, tunic, from jacques, nickname for French peasants (from the name Jacques; see jack) or from Old Catalan jaco (perhaps from Arabic akk, mailcoat).

Is jacquard related in any way?

"Is jacquard related in any way?"

I don't think so. I think it's the name of the person who invented the way to make a loom weave that way. Believe it or not, the thingie he invented is the very early precursor of the computer punch-card.

Ooh! Squeal! I looked it up in AHD4, and that's exactly what it is. He invented it in 1801. How totally eponymous.

Actually Jacquard wasn't the first to design a punch-card-operated loom, but his was far more efficient than the forerunners. Since the designs were "software" and people sometimes used to steal the stack of cards which controlled the looms for popular designs, was it the first instance of software piracy?