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I came across the word "musset" in Gregory Maguire's Wicked--

Her green traveling gown with its inset panels of ochre musset suggested wealth, while the black shawl draping just so about the shoulders was a nod to her academic inclinations. (p. 84 in my edition)

Does anyone know what exactly the word refers to? It plainly has something to do with clothing, but what in particular? Is it just an invented word? It's not in the OED, and my Google searches led to naught, but I'm wondering if it might be a recondite technical term for something.

lly
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soundandfury
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    Sounds like it should to be a type of fabric or fur, perhaps. – KillingTime Jul 05 '21 at 14:52
  • Incidentally, ochre is probably the most confusing word here as it can mean either earthy red or pale yellow – GArthurBrown Jul 05 '21 at 15:07
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    Please note that the answer you have accepted does not give any support for the claim made; the product 'Musset' (alongside 'Ruskin', 'Shelley' ...) is obviously a brand name, reflecting a famous literary figure, chosen long after the lower-cased usage appeared. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 05 '21 at 16:08
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    It could be "russet", which is a material, although it does not suggest wealth - quite the reverse. However, as there is no trace of this "musset" material, I suspect that this is an OCR error. – Greybeard Jul 05 '21 at 16:16
  • It's from the physical copy of the book. But I suppose it could be made up (since it is a fantasy novel; but then again, it seems like a strange word to invent) or a typo for something else. – soundandfury Jul 05 '21 at 16:18
  • @user427491 It's not likely to be made up, as this appears to be the only instance in the book where it is used and no explanation was offered for it. When fantasy authors invent words they will let you know what they mean, and the terms will be reused in the story. You wouldn't bothering making up a word to use it once, where a real type of fabric would do just as well. Also, Ngram suggests the word has been in use since at least 1805, almost continuously to today. It's just difficult to locate the definition online. – GArthurBrown Jul 05 '21 at 17:00
  • The only hit on musset in NGram is Alfred de Musset, a poet and novelist of the 19th century with an awful reputation. My guess, and it can be only that, is that in the use of the term, the author tips his hat to Musset. – Xanne Jul 05 '21 at 18:05
  • @Xanne, musset lower case comes up in Ngram. That could be a result of incorrect transcription, of course, but it is there. The man Musset wouldn't have been known in 1805, though. – GArthurBrown Jul 05 '21 at 18:24
  • @GArthurBrown I missed the lower-case musset. But the book was published in 1995, so the author could have known about him. – Xanne Jul 05 '21 at 19:05
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    I note that Maguire's Out of Oz (2011) has this instance of musset: "Somewhat to her [Glinda's] surprise, when she descended the stairs in her wine-colored summer cloak with the musset panels, the front doors were open and the Menacier from the banquet hall was waiting." The spelling thus seems to be intentional. – Sven Yargs Jul 05 '21 at 19:09
  • @GArthurBrown I’m curious what use you found of musset, lower case, in Ngram. The ones I checked don’t have that. – Xanne Jul 05 '21 at 19:34
  • @Xanne I've only found the Ngram results, which I linked to. In Google books you can't distinguish lower case so it's going to be 99.99% results for the proper name. – GArthurBrown Jul 05 '21 at 19:46
  • @GArthurBrown It’s misleading to claim that the word has been known in English since 1809. There is no use of the word in English in the NGram results except as a proper name, a foreign word (one reference to French, one to German) and an OCR error of musket. – Xanne Jul 05 '21 at 21:03
  • @Xanne How are you finding those results? – GArthurBrown Jul 05 '21 at 21:06
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    @GArthurBrown I just click on the dates listed and skim through the results. If I’m puzzled I go to the document, confirming, e.g., that “Ihr müsset” is part of a German phrase used in the text. People who use Ngram regularly know that it produces many false positives, OCR errors, and errors in publication dates. – Xanne Jul 05 '21 at 22:03
  • I’m voting to close this question because it turns out that the usage is non-standard; the 'word' is not in the lexis. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 06 '21 at 18:10
  • @Greybeard It turns out to have been completely intentional but I agree with you that russet (possibly rammed together with muslin) was probably where the feel for the word came from, even though it was used for a quite different fabric. – lly Jul 08 '21 at 15:54
  • Time for this answer to be accepted. – Xanne Jul 08 '21 at 21:09
  • An uncited answer that claims to be from a famous author is not authoritative. – GArthurBrown Jul 11 '21 at 13:21

1 Answers1

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The word musset was invented by the author (Gregory Maguire).

Having replicated the OP's lack of success in finding any online definition of the word, I acted on a whim and sent an email to ask him. He very kindly replied a few hours later with:

Ah, you have found one of my invented words, employed to make the world of Oz that little bit more unfamiliar than we expect.

I imagine it to be somewhat velvety, but what do I know?

Sorry to have given you an exercise that ended in — author trickery!

Cheers,

Gregory Maguire

TripeHound
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  • Aww, he types personal emails with capital letters and even em dashes. What a swell guy. And thank you for doing that for us, TH. – lly Jul 08 '21 at 15:55
  • Doesn't it need a certain currency before it can be termed a 'word' (as 'hobbit', 'muggle' have certainly become)? Perhaps this will give it the necessary advertising. – Edwin Ashworth Jul 08 '21 at 18:07
  • @EdwinAshworth Even though I cannot believe how many votes my answer has attracted, I think it will need much more than one question-and-answer to do that! (For reference, the OED's process for new words is here). – TripeHound Jul 08 '21 at 20:25
  • A screenshot might be nice, otherwise there is nothing here but your word you interacted with a famous author. – GArthurBrown Jul 11 '21 at 12:14
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    @GArthurBrown I could add one, sure, but I'm not convinced it would carry any weight as it would be trivial to fake. – TripeHound Jul 11 '21 at 13:16
  • @TripeHound Considering this site is predicated upon having citations, I'd advise it. Because where did you get the email address? – GArthurBrown Jul 11 '21 at 13:18
  • I think "Personal correspondence" is sufficient citation for this one. I don't think anyone is likely to doubt TripeHound's word here. – Toby Speight Jul 12 '21 at 08:00