I share this, without needing to add anything:
This pic.twitter.com/XFZErdcuCi
— William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) March 24, 2024
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Long before digital techniques the great Film Directors used diffusion to provide a soft-focus to shoot close-ups, to create a heightened emotional effect. In order to achieve this effect they sometimes ‘shot through gauze’. For illustration, Sternberg filmed close-ups of Dietrich with an elevated and centred key light covered with gauze. Many other Directors did so in Hollywood, but apparently it goes back to silent film, both in Europe and the US.
The world is full of ironies.
With deep respect to Mr Dalrymple, I think the derivation is not as clear as he suggests.
As I understand it, a connection between the word for gauze and the city of Gaza was suggested by a 17th century French scholar, the sieur du Cange, but there is little evidence for that proposition.
Several sources suggest that “Gaza” comes from a Semitic word meaning something like “strength”, whereas “gauze” and similar words in other European language comes from Persian or Arabic “qazz” or “kazz” meaning raw silk or cottonseed. But perhaps there is a deeper connection.