Woolly pully

This morning's Maigret, still from the story of the yellow dog, but from the second reading rather than the first, is chandail. A word which is absent from Littré but is present in Larousse. A word for a knitted garment which is put on by pulling it over the head, a word derived from the phrase for a garlic seller, marchand d'ail. BH thought that the pully in question might have blue and white horizontal stripes, the sort of thing one used to see on garlic sellers cycling around Kent.

I associated to our jerseys and guernseys, woollen garments from islands not so far from the Brittany scene of the yellow dog story. From whence to worsted and shoddy, both once the names for particular sorts of woollen yarn. Shoddy being the woolly equivalent of new paper mainly made from recycled old paper.

So Simenon, whom I believe to have deliberately used a fairly restrained vocabulary, suitable for his mass market, continues, contrariwise, to be a source for fascinating words.

PS: I find second readings of his stories well worth while. Once one has got the hang of things, the drift, and is no longer rushing forward to find out what happens, one can read the story for a second time, at a more leisurely pace, taking the time and trouble to look up the words that one does not know or is not sure of - rather than guessing. Guessing not being terribly reliable.

Reference 1: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/maigret-morning.html.

Reference 2: petit Larousse illustré 1986. Librairie Larousse, 17 Rue du Montparnasse, Paris.