Niche (pronounced nĭch (U) or nēsh (Non-U))
(1) In architecture,
a cavity, hollow or recess, generally within the thickness of a wall and usually
semicircular in plan and arched, for a statue, bust, or other erect ornament; in
interior decorating the synonym is nook.
(2) Any similar
recess, such as one in a rock face.
(3) Figuratively,
any similar position such as (1) a place or position suitable or appropriate
for a person or thing or (2) a distinct or specialised segment of a market.
(4) In ecology, the
role of a plant or animal within its community and habitat which determines its
activities and relationships with other organisms.
(5) In contrast
radiography, an eroded or ulcerated area.
(6) In Islam, sn
arrow woven into a Muslim prayer rug pointing in the direction of Mecca (qibla).
(7) In the
funeral industry, as cremation niche; a columbarium.
1605-1615: From
the Middle English niche (shallow
recess in a wall), probably from the Old & Middle French niche (recess (for a dog), kennel), a back
formation from nicher (to make a nest),
from the unattested Vulgar Latin nīdiculāre,
from the Classical Latin nīdus (nest), the words niche & nicher enduring in Modern French.
Niche was a doublet of nidus
and nide via the Latin and the
related nest via the primitive Indo-European and was related also to nyas.
Some etymologists are not convinced by the notion of a direct Latin root
and trace the French niche (recess
(for a dog), kennel) to a fourteenth century borrowing from the Italian nicchia (niche, nook) derived from nicchio (seashell). The dissidents note the link to the Latin mitulus (mussel) but also the lack of
any documentary evidence for the change of -m-
to -n-. The origin in the Old French noun derived
from nichier is said to come via the Gallo-Romance
nidicare from Latin nidus (nest) but it remains one of those
insoluble disputes in linguistics. The figurative
sense was first recorded in 1725, the use in ecology dating from 1927 and the contemporary
coinings like niche market, multi-niche & niche player are all from the
twentieth century. Niche is a noun and
nicher, nichering & nichered are verbs; the noun plural is niches.
Pronunciation
While the origin of niche is of interest only to the profession, the dispute over pronunciation has a wider audience: nĭch (the U version and phonetically nich) or nēsh (non-U and neesh)? Many dictionaries (especially the descriptive) list both but those which offer only one (the prescriptive) insist on nitch. The descriptive (and thus linguistically promiscuous) Merriam-Webster’s on-line presence lists several pronunciations for niche: nitch, neesh and nish, in a deliberate attempt to reflect English as it’s actually spoken while Webster’s more prescriptive print edition continues to insist on nich. The Gallic-influenced neesh is said now to be the preferred US use.
Lindsay Lohan in Falling for Christmas (left) and Irish Wish with Triumph TR4 and body double (right).
In film, a niche
differs from a franchise in that the former is a conceptual genre and independent of
the characters, the latter thematic and generally dependent on the continuity of
at least one character. Lindsay Lohan’s
two recent Netflix productions, Falling for Christmas (2022) & Irish Wish
(slated for 2023) are in the rom-com (romantic comedy) niche.
There are two
types of dictionaries: prescriptive and descriptive and most modern
dictionaries are descriptive, meaning they attempt to describe the language as
it’s used, including, explicitly or by implication, all pronunciation variants
of a word used by educated speakers.
This approach does upset some purists but this is how English has always
evolved, a slut of a language which picks up words which seem useful, uses them
as required and dumps them when they’re outlived their usefulness. It’s tempting to suggest those who read Trollope say nith, those who watch TikTok prefer neesh but if ever that was true,, it probably no longer is so, when
in doubt, stick to the classics; niche should be pronounced nich.
Niche, nitch
& the W113 notch
So things
started with niche and later there came nitch which was (1) an alternative form
of knitch (a small bundle), (2) a blend of nick + notch (a dialectal form
meaning "a small notch or incision") and (3) a simple misspelling of
niche which caught on. In the collector
car market there are many niches and while there’s overlap and some multi-niche
players, niches are often siloed, one being the Mercedes-Benz W113. The W113 was a small roadster of spare,
elegant lines which was produced in 3 versions (230 SL, 250 SL & 280 SL)
between 1963-1971 and is known among the cognoscenti as the “pagoda” an
allusion to the unusual curve of the detachable hard-top, the arc described by
the raised side-windows. The successor
roadster (the R107, 1971-1989) used a similar roof design but the pagoda moniker
is unique to the W113.
1971 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL (W113, "pagoda").
Also unique to the W113 niche is the cult of the notch. Part of the charm of the W113 and a proof it came from a time when Mercedes-Benz were rather more “hand-made” than now, were the leaded-seam “fender notches”, small creases in the fender, inboard of the headlights, which workers on the assembly line hand-shaped with tin, their purpose being to ensure the notch matched both the knik in the headlight surround and the crease on the outside of the fender. That ensured perfect alignment (this was a time when the factory took seriously such intricate details of quality control) but were thought at the time just part of the manufacturing process and not publicized. Thus, in the decades before the W113 became a collectable and long before originality became a fetish, repair shops when replacing fenders (supplied from the factory without a notch) wouldn’t fashion a notch one to match the one replaced, unaware perhaps even of their existence. There were tales too of the factory’s notches even being smoothed-out as a “fix” when thought a defect although these stories may be apocryphal. However, those who have had a replacement fender “notched” exactly to match the one removed will probably still not satisfy the originality police because the inner fender spot welds which affix the fender to the structure are said to have been done in a manner almost impossible to replicate. It’s metal so it can be done but it’s not easy to convince the experts who judge such things.
By their notches they shall be known: Headlight notches (left & right) on 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 SL.
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