Salon Songs

Speranza

salon (n.)


1690s, a large room or apartment in a palace or great house.

From French "salon", a reception room.

From Italian "salone", a large hall.

From "sala", hall.

From a Germanic source.

Cf. Old English

"sele"

Old Norse

"salr", hall

Old High German

"sal"

hall, house,

German "Saal").

From Proto-Germanic hypothetical form*salaz

From Proto-Indo-European hypothetical form *sel-, human settlement.

Cf. Old Church Slavonic

"selo", courtyard, village.

Lithuanian "sala", village.

Sense of "reception room of a Parisian lady" is from 1810.

Meaning "gathering of fashionable people" first recorded 1888 (the woman who hosts one is a salonnière).

Meaning "annual exhibition of contemporary paintings and sculpture in Paris" is from its originally being held in one of the salons of the Louvre.

Meaning "establishment for hairdressing and beauty care" is from 1913.