 KingPhilip II of Spain, wearing the Spanishtocado, late 16th century. Painting bySofonisba Anguissola | |
| Type | Narrow-brimmed or brimless hat |
|---|---|
| Material | Knitted yarn, starched cloth, or velvet |
Atoque (/toʊk/[1] or/tɒk/) is a type ofhat with a narrowbrim or no brim at all.[2]
Toques were popular from the 13th to the 16th century in Europe, especially France. They were revived in the 1930s; nowadays, they are primarily known as the traditional headgear for professionalcooks, except in Canada, where the termtoque is used interchangeably with the French Canadian spelling oftuque to refer toknit caps.[2]
The wordtoque has been known in English since around 1500. It is aloan word from theFrenchtuque (15th century), presumably by the way of theSpanishtoca 'woman's headdress', fromArabic*taqa طاقة, itself fromOld Persiantaq 'veil, shawl'.[3]
The wordtoque inBreton means 'hat'. The spelling with ⟨que⟩ is Middle Breton, and the Modern Breton spelling istok. Old Breton spells the wordtoc.The word was borrowed into the French language for both the chef's uniform and the knit cap.[citation needed]
A tall, black toque made ofsilk orvelvet, often ornamented with anaigrette, was fashionable among theSpanish nobility during the 1500s. This style is seen in a 1584 portrait ofIsabella Clara Eugenia as well asSofonisba Anguissola's 1573 portrait ofPhilip II of Spain, both in theMuseo del Prado. The style spread across Europe, being adopted in France, England, Germany, and Italy. The toque diminished in popularity in the 1600s as wide-brimmed andcocked hats became fashionable, but reappeared as a predominantly young women's fashion in the 1800s, accompanying long dresses andchignon hairstyles.[4]
Atoque blanche (French for 'white hat'), often shortened to toque, is a tall, round, pleated, starched white hat worn bychefs.[5]
The toque most likely originated as the result of the gradual evolution of head coverings worn by cooks throughout the centuries.[6] Their roots are sometimes traced to thecasque à meche (stocking cap) worn by 18th-century French chefs. The colour of thecasque à meche denoted the rank of the wearer. Boucher, the personal chef of the French statesmanTalleyrand, was the first to insist on white toques for sanitary reasons.
The modern toque is popularly believed to have originated with the French chefMarie-Antoine Carême (1784–1833), who stiffened thecasque à meche with cardboard.[7]
The pleated, low, round hat worn in French universities – the equivalent of themortarboard ortam at British and American universities – is also called a toque.
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In theNapoleonic era, the French first empire replaced thecoronets of traditional ("royal")heraldry with a rigorously standardized system (as other respects of "Napoleonic"coats of arms) of toques, reflecting the rank of the bearer. Thus a Napoleonicduke used a toque with sevenostrich feathers and threelambrequins, acount a toque with five feathers and two lambrequins, abaron three feathers and one lambrequin, aknight only one ostrich feather (seeNobility of the First French Empire).
Toque is also used for a hard-type hat orhelmet, worn for riding, especially inequestrian sports, often black and covered with blackvelvet.
InCanada,toque ortuque/tuːk/ is the common name for aknitted winter cap. While the spellingtoque has become the most formally accepted in Canada, as recognized by theCanadian Oxford Dictionary and theDictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, the alternate spelling oftuque is most commonly used in French Canada and often occurs in Canadian media. The spellingtouque, although not recognized by theCanadian Oxford Dictionary, is also sometimes seen in written English.[8]
In 2013,CBC Edmonton launched a poll to ask viewers how they spelled the word. The options given weretoque,tuque ortouque. Nearly 6,500 people voted, with Edmontonians remaining divided on the issue.[8] Thoughtouque was voted most popular in that instance, there is almost no formal usage to support its popularity.
TheCanadian English term was borrowed fromCanadian French wordtuque, and first documented inCanadian English in that form in 1865; by 1880 the spellingtoque is documented.[9] The fashion is said to have originated with thecoureurs de bois, French andMétis fur traders, who kept their woollen nightcaps on for warmth during cold winter days. This spelling is attributed to a number of different sources, one being the Bretontoc ortok, "meaning simply 'hat'"; another suggesting that it is a Francization of the Spanishtocar, to touch, as the long "end of the sock cap" of the Voyageurs hung down and touched their shoulders;[10] and another source adamant that the word is borrowed from "the old Languedoc dialect wordtuc" meaning "summit" or "the head of a mountain".[11]
The spelling oftoque, on the other hand, is borrowed from the original usage as described elsewhere in this article.Toque also appears in the 1941Dictionary of Mississippi Valley French as a "style of hair-dressing among the Indians" which was a tall, conical fashion not unlike the shape of the Voyageur-style cap described above.[12]
Dictionaries are divided on the matter of spelling, with theGage Canadian preferringtoque[13] and theNelson Canadian listingtuque[14] (theNelson Gage of a few years later would settle ontoque). The firstDictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles lists separate entries and definitions for bothtoque andtuque which cross-reference each other, though an illustrative line drawing is presented with the latter.[15] Perhaps most importantly, theCanadian Oxford chosetoque,[16] and as theCanadian Press Stylebook bows to theCanadian Oxford as the final word in spelling, most Canadian publications have followed suit.
Though the requirement of thetoque to have a pom-pom or no can be a hard line for some Canadians, for the most part the country agrees: one of these three spellings must be "correct" no matter what the specifics of shape. As theCanadian Encyclopedia claims, "We all know a tuque when we see one, [we just] can't agree on how to spell the word."[17]
In recent years knittoques have resurfaced as an extremely popular fashion item. They are used all year round, seen not only used outdoors for weather but as an indoor fashion accessory.
Such hats are known in other English-speaking countries by a variety of names, includingbeanie,watch cap orstocking cap; the termstoque andtuque are unique to Canada and northern areas of the United States close to theCanada–United States border.
