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October 8, 2009

Faguenat, Faganat: How The French Described a Host of Stinky Odors after Rabelais with Notes on Fug {Perfume Vocabulary} {Scented Thoughts}

Faguenat, Fagana...Fug

Faguenat, Faganat are two very interesting words as they are all but forgotten in contemporary French, omitted by the contemporary dictionaries I checked, yet have rich, precise and diverse historic meanings in the field of historical olfaction. In this sense, they are revelatory of what the French have classified as meaningful, typically obnoxious smells in the course of their history.

The 9th edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie Française does not even mention them today....

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January 12, 2008

Whimsical Yet Practical Definitions of "Linear" & "Olfactory Pyramid" {Perfume Words}

A linear perfume is one that is like a lady dressed in a fur coat wearing nothing underneath who flashes it open revealing everything and strikes the same pose overtime, unafraid to catch cold.

This type of perfume is generally opposed to the kind that offers a pyramidal construction, developing academically in 3 stages........

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November 15, 2007

Brèches as a Perfume Word {Perfume Words}

When Tom Ford launched his Private Blend collection of twelve fragrances last spring he titled one of his perfumes, Moss Breches, which immediately lent to speculation on the part of native English speakers that it might, perhaps, be related to the word "breeches" in English. Given Tom Ford's public persona and lack of taboos in his general discourse about perfume and sexuality, where he does not hesitate for example to describe Black Orchid as inspired by the scent of a "man's crotch", this would appear to be quite a natural association in the minds of his followers........

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September 15, 2007

Origin of "Eau de Naphé" {Perfume Words}

One of the two latest perfume launches by Comptoir Sud Pacifique, Eau de Naphé, resurrects an interesting exotic and slightly mysterious ancient perfume expression which in the 19th and 20th centuries means "orange blossom water". You will find the expression relatively more frequently as "eau de naffe"(e.g. Rabelais) and it actually, besides its more particular meaning, also has a more general one, that of an aromatized, perfumed water (18th c.).......

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July 23, 2007

Lécythiophile or Lécythomyrophile {Perfume Words}

A lécythiophile (masc.) or less commonly, lécythomyrophile, is a word employed in French and English (without the accent) to designate a miniature perfume bottle collector.

"Lécythiophile" literally means the friend of the lécythe (masc.) from ancient Greek lekythos, which used to refer to a vase containing oil or perfume destined to bodycare during the Greek antiquity.......

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