The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #125221   Message #2775301
Posted By: Q (Frank Staplin)
27-Nov-09 - 10:11 PM
Thread Name: BS: Usage: -ess suffix for female operatives
Subject: RE: BS: Usage: -ess suffix for female operatives
Serviette - "The older use of the word was exclusively Sc. In the 19th c. it was re-introduced with the French spelling (at first only as a foreign term). It may now be regarded as naturalized, but latterly has come to be regarded as vulgar."
1906, Bland, Lett. Daughter, 53; "...she was the sort who would call a table napkin a serviette."

Comment and quote from Oxford English Dictionary.