Hessian fabric

Rug making on hessian
Look up hessian , burlap , or crocus in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Hessian (UK: /ˈhɛsiən/, US: /ˈhɛʃən/[1]), burlap in North America,[2] or crocus in Jamaica[3] and the wider Caribbean, is a woven fabric made of vegetable fibres, usually the skin of the jute plant[4][5][6] or sisal leaves.[7] It is generally used (in the crude tow form known as gunny) for duties of rough handling, such as making sacks employed to ship farm products and to act as covers for sandbags (although woven plastics now often serve these purposes), and for wrapping tree-root balls.[8][9] However, this dense woven fabric, historically coarse, more recently[when?] is being produced in a refined state, known simply as jute, as an eco-friendly material for bags, rugs, and other products.

The name "hessian" is attributed to the historic use of the fabric as part of the uniform of soldiers from the former Landgraviate of Hesse (1264–1567) and its successors, who were called Hessians.[10] Hessian cloth[11] comes in different types of construction, form, size and color.

The origin of the word burlap is uncertain,[10][12] though it appeared as early as the late 17th century. Its etymology is speculated to derive from the Middle English borel ('coarse cloth'), the Old French burel and/or the Dutch boeren ('coarse'), in the latter case perhaps interfused with boer ('peasant'). The second element is the Dutch word lap, 'piece of cloth'.[13]

  1. ^ "Definition of HESSIAN". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 12 May 2022.
  2. ^ "Tariff Talk Hurt Hessians of India; Traveler Tells of Blue Times in Calcutta When America Stopped Buying". The New York Times. 13 July 1913. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Crocus Bag". CIAD. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  4. ^ United States. Congress. House of Representatives. Committee on Ways and Means (13 January 1913). Tariff Schedules: Hearings Before the Committee on Ways and Means. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 4047. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  5. ^ Woolley, Tom (1998). Green Building Handbook: A Guide to Building Products and Their Impact on the Environment. Vol. 1. London: E & FN Spon. ISBN 978-0-419-22690-1.[page needed]
  6. ^ Woolley, Tom (2000). Green Building Handbook: A Companion Guide to Building Products and Their Impact on the Environment. Vol. 1. Taylor & Francis. pp. 96, 100, 108. ISBN 978-0-419-25380-8.
  7. ^ Olson, Jane; Shepherd, Gene (2006). The Rug Hooker's Bible: The Best from 30 Years of Jane Olson's Rugger's Roundtable. Stackpole Books. p. 8. ISBN 978-1-881982-46-3. Retrieved 29 July 2010.
  8. ^ "What Is Burlap?". The Happy Burlap. 27 November 2021. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  9. ^ "Sandbags of All Types". Dayton Bag & Burlap. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  10. ^ a b Simpson, J. R.; Weiner, E. S. C. (1989). "burlap". Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-861186-2.[page needed]
  11. ^ "Hessian Cloth". Global Trade Concern. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  12. ^ "Oxford Dictionaries - The World's Most Trusted Dictionary Provider". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 17 January 2013.
  13. ^ "burlap". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 9 April 2014.