Uniforms Garments: Sweaters--Terminology
Figure 1.--The sweater is onecof the many differences between the British and Americans. The British call these garments 'jumpers', at least the pullover type. The British will understand the Anerican usage, but Americans will not understand the British usage. Americans use it for a girl's dress--gym slips.
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The term sweater is commonly used in America. It is somewhat less common in Britain, although fully understood. Many Brits will call a school sweater a jumper. Here they are referring to school pullover sweaters. Cardigans were also worn as school uniform in Britain by girls. Here the term sweater was used rather than jumper. Americans use the term to describe a type of girl's dress. The two usages seem unrelated. One soure suggrsts that the term refers to the fact that the sheep which oproduce wool for the sweaters jumped with joy after they were shorn becaue they felt lighter. This of course is absolute nonsence. Others suggest that A jumper is any shoulder to thigh length article of women's outer clothing that dhe 'jumps into' hat waas away of describing article that one steps into and pulls up. There are no back buttons like many dreses. A jumper dress was sleeveless, collarless, and worn over a blouse or shirt or sweater. The British would call these dresses gym slips. It was in this regard simikr to the bib overalls wotn by men and boys. This difference in terminology is relatively recent as is the sweater garment itself. Originally the term was used for variety of upper body garments. The British gradually moved toward the senxe of a kitted woollen garment with long sleeves covering the upper part of the body. The British began using the term at the middle of the 19th century. The authoritative Oxford English Dictionary (OED) describes 'a kind of loose outer jacket or shirt reaching to the hips”. At the time the garment was a kind of fisherman’s smock. The Americans gradually saw it as any upper-body garment for girls. The OED points to a 1908 catalog which describe a loose-fitting blouse worn over a skirt. GraduallyAnericans combined the two into a jumper suit,meaning a jumper and skirt combined. Sears & Roebuck in 1916 offers a jumper frock,meaning pinafore dress worn over a blouse or shirt. Eventually the frock was dropped and the modrn usage of just jumper came into popular usage. Despite all the speculation, the term jumper is unconnected with the verb ;jump', but the from the dialectword 'jump' or 'jup' which meant a man’s short coat or a woman’s under-bodice or tunic. The origins are presumably the French word 'juppe' meaning a petticoat. In modern French 'jupe' means 'skirt'. Some academics believe that this in turn was derived from the Arabic 'jubba' meaning a loose outer garment.
