Necessaria
Sir: Dot Wordsworth is not quite correct in claiming that both the words 'lavatory' and `toilet', derive from the name of a place where one washed one's hands (Mind your language, 9 January). This is not true of `toilet' which comes from 'toilette', a small linen cloth laid over the dressing-table (back in the 17th century) and, by exten- sion, came to refer first to the dressing- table as a whole, then to its furnishing and finally to the whole activity of dressing and grooming. The washing of hands was part of that activity, and the close-stool (with its pan that had to be emptied by a servant after use) commonly stood nearby, although, in the best circles, people liked to have it in an adjacent closet.
When the plumbed 'water-closet' came into widespread use during the last century, a wash-basin was usually installed along- side. By that time the dressing-table had ceased to stand in the same room, except in public places like hostels.
Peter Thornton
Curator, Sir John Soane's Museum, 13 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2
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