Philip Eden wrote in message ...
:
:"Colin Youngs" wrote in message
...
:
: As an aside, the word Fön - normally written without the H - is now the
: modern German word for "hairdryer".
:
:That's interesting ... presumably derived from the wind name?
id it become a registered Trade Mark that simply entered
:the language through sheer weight of use, like hoover?

You are exactly right. The word is certainly derived from "Föhn". It
seems that "Fön" was registered as a trade mark in Germany as long ago as
1908 by a company called Sanitas. After the Second World War that company
was taken over by AEG. "Fön" is still a registered trade mark of AEG and
so other manufacturers of hairdryers may not use it. Even so, it has
entered into everyday use as a generic term for hairdryer, just like
"hoover" for a vacuum cleaner.

The origin of "Föhn" is the Latin "favonius" - west wind.

Sources - searches on Google and Duden Rechtschreibung (authoritative German
dictionary).

The word "föhn" is also used in Dutch to mean hairdryer - but with the same
spelling as the wind name.

Colin Youngs
Brussels