marquise — MARQUEE


[mahr-KEEZ] (n. f.) The pop star is upset and pouting in her dressing room. Stuff was broken and her entourage's gotten an earful. It all started when she got to the venue and her name on the marquee was next to the opening act's, not on top of it. This is one pop star who wants to be treated like a monarch and it's fitting in a way: see, the term marquee was gleaned from the French marquise, a noblewoman. It all goes back to the 17th century when an officer's tent in a French military encampment was distinguished by having a linen canopy placed over it, indicating a place suitable for a marquis. They called that canopy a marquise. Come the early 1900s when Americans wanted to name those fancy canopies in front of a hotel, or theater. They grabbed the French marquise, mistakenly thought the s at the end made it plural, lobbed that off, and called it a marquee.