Q&A: The origin of ‘umbrella’

Each week here at the Australian Writers’ Centre, we dissect and discuss, contort and retort, ask and gasp at the English language and all its rules, regulations and ridiculousness. It’s a celebration of language, masquerading as a passive-aggressive whinge about words and weirdness. This week, umbrella academia…

Q: Hi AWC, where does the word “umbrella” come from? It seems rather fancy and unique for something that keeps you dry…

A: It’s a good point. And keeping you dry has nothing to do with the name.

Q: Oh really?

A: Really. It comes from the Latin “umbra” – which actually means “shade” or “shadow”. The original hand held sun shade was called an “umbella”.

Q: Wait. No “r”?

A: That’s right. 

Q: I take umbrage at this!

A: Haha, nicely done. And yes, the word “umbrage” – what Macquarie Dictionary defines as “offence given or taken; resentful displeasure” – also comes from the same place, “umbra”. “Umbrage” arrived in English in the 1400s via the French “ombrage” to mean “shadow or darkness”. 

Q: They were the Dark Ages I guess.

A: Actually, no. At its longest, the period of time known as the “Dark Ages” was a 900-year stretch from 500AD/CE to 1400AD/CE. So by the time the 15th century rolls around, we’ve hit the “Renaissance”. We’ll discuss it in full some other time.

Q: Okay, sure.

A: By the way, your phrase “to take umbrage at” didn’t come along until the 1670s, and it’s curious to see a 2010s phrase match its original meaning – “to give shade” to something.

Q: Oh yeah. That’s a full circle moment.

A: Well, speaking of full circles, the other time you may have seen the word “umbra” is during an eclipse.

Q: My mother said I wasn’t supposed to look directly at obscure words during an eclipse.

A: Haha. In this context, the “umbra” is like the darkest part of a shadow – its core. The moon’s umbra gives us total solar eclipses, while it’s the Earth’s umbra on the moon that gives partial and total lunar eclipses.

Q: Can we get back to why an “umbrella” has nothing so far to do with rain?

A: We can! So Late Latin reinstated the missing “r” and the Italians had something known as an “ombrello” – which people like the Pope and clergy used in the 1500s. It was super fancy. 

Q: So umbrellas were invented in Italy?

A: Oh, no. They were used in China thousands of years earlier! But here we’re looking at the origin of both the word and the popular use.

Q: Got it. Carry on.

A: Okay, so by the end of the 16th century, this practical fashion accessory was taking hold in sunny Italy – with many foreign writers noting its popularity. One such travel writer was Englishman Thomas Coryat, who first wrote of this “umbrella” in a 1611 travelogue.

Q: So a kind of 17th century Lonely Planet guide?

A: Yes, something like that. He noted that these so-called “umbrellas” were used to “administer shadow to one for shelter against the scorching heat of the sun”.

Q: So it was initially a sun shade?

A: That’s right. And another term came hot on its shady heels in the years that followed – “parasol”. It came from the Italian base “para” meaning “defence against” – to translate as protection from the sun. Again, all the elite and fashionable people of the 17th century had umbrellas or parasols. In Spanish, they became known as “sombrillas”.

Q: And yet, still no rain?

A: No. The word was in place but the material was not waterproof at this stage. This changed in France around the 1660s, when wax was applied to a standard parasol to create a “parapluie” – protection from the rain.

Q: At last!

A: Indeed. And things picked up in pace from there. In 1705, a clever Parisian merchant named Jean Marius came up with the design of the “broken umbrella” – allowing it to fold similar to today. These waterproof umbrellas had arrived in rainy England, initially worn as fashion items by women but eventually carried by men.

Q: An umbrevolution!

A: Exactly. The 18th century saw umbrellas burst open across the European continent – carried by the masses for the first time and seen in many paintings of the day. And the name has endured to this day.

Q: What about the term “brolly” – where is that from?

A: This slang for umbrella is only known across Commonwealth countries such as UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. It dates back to 1866.

Q: What of the more figurative “umbrella” terms?

A: To group things “under the one umbrella” – that was relatively recent, only in use since 1948.

Q: And what about putting things “under my umbrella, ella, ella, eh, eh, eh”?

A: That can be traced precisely back to 2007 and singer Rihanna.

Q: Cool. So, to recap, the Italians are responsible for the modern name, which despite translating as protection from the sun and starting its life as precisely that, is now primarily used against rain.

A: That’s it! Of course, “sun umbrellas” are still very much a thing – especially on the beach, but the rain has largely hijacked the original word.

Q: Well, I’m glad we finally tackled this one. I’ve been saving it for a rainy day.

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