E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Et’iquette (3 syl.).
The usages of polite society. The word means a ticket or card, and refers to the ancient custom of delivering a card of directions and regulations to be observed by all those who attended court. The original use was a soldier’s billet. (French, etiquette; Spanish, etiqueta, a book of court ceremonies.)
1
“Etiquette … had its original application to those ceremonial and formal observances practised at Court… . The term came afterwards … to signify certain formal methods used in the transactions between Sovereign States.”—Burke: Works, vol. viii. p. 329.
