[Sca-cooks] "Stillroom"

Sun Apr 17 08:31:00 PDT 2005

Thanks, Huette!  I didn't think I had missed that large an entry, so I went
back and checked.  While my edition does have the word "stillatory", the
only entry it has is: 'a room for a still'.
My OED is a 13 volume Abridged edition from the 1930's that I bought for 25
bucks in the early '80s, and usually it doesn't let me down, but I guess
this time it did.
I appreciate your time to look it up and type it in for me, as well as
Johnnae's info and link to the Folger article, that was a very good
overview.  I might actually break down and have to buy that book, something
I never do on-line (it is a good thing that my finances have been what they
are since the advent of Amazon and the like - my house would collapse under
the weight of the books I would buy if I had the cash!)
Christianna

Well, if you had looked at other similar words in your OED, you would have
found the word
"stillatory" which is what a stillroom was called during Elizabethan times.

Stillatory, n.

    2. A place where distillery is carried on; a still-room; a still-house,
distillery.

  1602 PLAT Delights Ladies Epist. (1611) A3, The Quince, Pomgranate,..Are
heere maintain'd,..For
Ladies closets and their stillatories. 1604 R. CAWDREY Table Alph.,
Stillatorie, a distilling
place. 1624 WOTTON Elem. Archit. I. 8 All Offices that require heat, as
Kitchins, Stillatories..or
the like would be Meridionall. c1710 C. FIENNES Diary (1888) 7 So many
little buildings apart from
each other..one for a stillitory. 1796 Stat. Acc. Scot. XVII. 294 Here is a
stillatory which pays
to the revenue £729 per annum.

    3. attrib.

  1561-2 in Rep. Middleton MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm. 1911) 417 Paied to the
smythe for makynge and
mendynge a locke for the styllytary howse dore. 1586 BRIGHT Melanch. xxvii.
156 Placed over the
rest as a stillitorye helme ouer the bodie.

There are older uses of the word, but they are specific to a still rather
than a stillroom.

So instead of "stillroom arts/sciences", I would suggest "stillatory
arts/sciences" if you
wish to use a word that was used in period.

Huette

--- kingstaste at mindspring.com wrote:
> We are discussing creating a new A&S category to pick up things like
> rosewater, cordials, infused oils and vinegars, and dried herb mixtures.
I
> suggested that things like soapmaking, recipes using soap like the
Cleansing
> Ball recipe out of Digby, health and beauty aids such as the wash to
remove
> pimples (corns) and rinses for the hair, and possibly cosmetics should
also
> be added.  The term "Stillroom Arts" was suggested as the category name,
and
> someone asked where the term came from (not a cook ;).  I thought it would
> be a simple thing to toss the answer back out, but as it turns out, it
> isn't.  This is what I've come up with this morning between my OED and
> Google, can anyone help me out with an actual period quote using the term?
> (Jadwiga, I've been to your site already this morning :)
> Christianna
>
> >From the OED:
> 	Stillroom: 1710. a.Hist. Orig., a room in a house which a still was kept
> for the distillation of perfumes and cordials.  b. Later, a room in which
> preserves, cakes, liqueurs, etc. are kept, and tea, coffee, etc. are
> prepared.  "A hundred years ago, every lady in the country had her
> still-room." Thackeray.
>
> >From an ad on Amazon:
>  The Elizabethan Stillroom was the housekeepers domain, where she
distilled
> essences and extracted oils form herbs and flowers to flavor her recipes
and
> made the natural lotions and potions for the household. Elizabethan
England
> produces genuine stillroom recipes from the sixteenth century, during
which
> Queen Elizabeth I reigned.
>
> "Knowledge was passed on by word of mouth and usually by the Stillroom
Book,
> wherein all of the remedies, formulas, types of herbs and their uses,
> sicknesses and what was administered and to what effect, were recorded by
> the Lady herself or a scribe, for future use."
> http://inspie3.home.mindspring.com/
>
>
> 	Hm, but I can't find an actual period reference for the word right off -
> the OED date would be the first time it appeared in print, and Thackeray
is
> writing in the early half of the 19th century.  I'm sure I can track down
a
> reference from our period, though.
> Christianna
>
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