piepowder

English

WOTD – 11 April 2022

A 19th-century illustration of a piepowder (sense 2) being held in London.

From the following:^[1]

Late Middle English pe-poudre, pipouder (“(noun) itinerant; travelling merchant, peddler; court of piepowders; (adverb) summarily”) [and other forms],^[2] from Anglo-Norman pepoudrous, pié poudrous (“having dusty feet; an itinerant”) [and other forms] (compare Middle French pyé pouldreux (“travelling merchant”) (Poitou) (modern French pied poudreux (“one who cannot pay”) (obsolete))), from pé, pié (“foot”) + poudrous, poudrus (“dusty”); pié is derived from Old French pié (“foot”) (modern French pied), from Latin pedem, the accusative singular of pēs (“foot”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“to step; to walk; to stumble; to fall”); while poudrous, poudrus (modern French poudreux (“dusty”)) is from Old French poudre (“dust; powder”) (from Latin pulverem, the accusative singular of pulvis (“dust; powder”), from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“dust; flour”)) + -ous (a variant of -us (suffix forming adjectives)); and
Late Middle English pe-poudrus, pypoudrus (“for itinerants or travelling merchants”, adjective), from pe-poudre (see above).^[3]

cognates

piepowder (plural piepowders)

(obsolete) Chiefly in court of piepowders, etc. (sense 2): a traveller, particularly one on foot; a wayfarer; specifically, a travelling merchant.
(British, law, historical) In full court of piepowders (also court of piepowder) or piepowder court: an ancient court in England held in conjunction with a fair or a market to administer summary justice over occurrences therein such as disputes between merchants and acts of theft and violence; they were presided over by the mayor and bailiffs of the borough, or by the steward if the fair or market was held by a lord.

ancient court in England held in conjunction with a fair or a market to administer summary justice over occurrences therein