Well attestedNamed for a product of the place
Marseille soap
noun · first attested 17th century
Protected by royal edict in 1688 and by nothing whatsoever today.
A hard soap boiled from olive oil, seawater and alkaline plant ash, usually sold as a plain stamped cube.
Record
- Relationship
- Named for a product of the place
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 17th century
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Marseille
- In English
Marseille soap
The city's soapworks drew on Provencal olive oil, and a 1688 edict under Colbert barred animal fats from soap sold under the Marseille name. That rule is long gone and the term has no legal protection, so most cubes labeled Marseille are now made elsewhere and from other oils.
Also pinned to Marseille
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