May 19, 2021

Case File #021.05.19: TOWHEAD

Ever wonder why we use towhead when we refer to someone who has white or pale-yellow hair? Well, the term was coined in the United States circa 1830, but it actually has its beginnings in an older, lesser-known meaning of the noun tow. Sometime during the fourteenth century, you see, English-speaking spinners and weavers began using tow in reference to the fibers extracted from plants such as flax and hemp. (The Middle English word itself likely evolved from the Old English adjective towlic, which meant “fit for spinning.”) Such fibers are generally white or a very faint yellow, and when they are gathered together and combed in preparation for spinning, the resulting bundles—or rovings, as spinners call them—are not only essentially colorless but also have a texture and a sheen similar to those of human and animal hair. So now you get it, right? We call someone a towhead when they have a head of hair that resembles rovings of tow.

©2021 Michael R. Gates

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