Sequin

Sequin (pronounced see-kwin)

(1) A small shining disk or spangle used for ornamentation, on clothing, accessories and theatrical costumes (paillette the synonym).

(2) A gold coin (the ducat, known also as the zecchino, zechine or zecchine) minted by many authorities in the Mediterranean region including Venice (1284), Malta (circa 1535) and Turkey (now the Republic of Türkiye) (1478).

1575–1585: From the French sequin, from the Italian zecchino, the construct being zecc(a) (mint, from the Arabic سِكَّة‎ (sikka) (die for striking coins; a coin)) + -ino; a doublet of zecchin.  The Italian suffix -ino was from the Latin -īnus, from the primitive Indo-European -inos and was comparable with the English -ine.  It was a noun-forming suffix used (1) to form diminutives, (2) to indicate a profession, (3) to indicate an ethnic or geographical origin & (4) to denote a device, tool or instrument; as an adjective-forming suffix it was used (1) to indicate an ethnic or geographical origin & (2) to denote composition, color or other physical qualities.  Sequin & sequining are nouns (although some may use the latter as a verb) and sequined is an adjective; the noun plural is sequins.

Gold zecchino (ducat) minted in Venice between 1676-1684.

It was in 1284 the Venetian Republic began minting the gold ducat.  Prized for their purity, they were a medium of exchange (money) widely used all around the Mediterranean an enjoyed a status not greatly different that the modern US dollar.  Before long the ducat came to be called the zecchino after the name of the Venetian mint (the Zecca) and, reflecting the political nature of the republic, the dies used to stamp the zecchini changed with the rile of each doge (the chief magistrate in the republics of Venice and Genoa, from the Venetian Doxe, from the Latin ducem, accusative of dux (leader, prince).   It was a doublet of duke and dux and the source of the Duce (leader) made infamous by Benito Mussolini (1883-1945; prime-minister of Italy 1922-1943)), something which means the coins easily can be dated.

Ducat (known also as the zecchino, zechine or zecchine), was from the Middle French ducat, from the late Old French ducat, from the Old Italian ducato, from the Medieval Latin ducatus, from the Classical Latin dukatus, from the oblique stem of dux (duke; leader).  The adoption of the name ducat was inspired by the inscription on the reverse of the first coinage: Sit tibi Christe datus quem tu regis iste ducatus (To you, Christ, be given this dukedom which you reign).  In Venice, ducats were minted until the republic was absorbed into Austria under the terms of the Treaty of Campo Formio (1797) but even in the years of decline the ducats maintained their integrity, their fine weight (gold content) always around 986/1000 (3.44 g), something which meant that in addition to being the region’s currency, the predictability of mass meant they were accepted as the standard yardstick for weight comparisons for metals and some other commodities.

Lindsay Lohan in Matthew Williamson sequin dress with marabou feather hem, London, October 2015.

Hinting that conspicuous consumption is nothing new, it became fashionable among well-bred ladies throughout the Mediterranean world to stitch Venetian zecchini and other coins to their clothing and head-dresses.  Variations of the word zecchino (along with the similar Arabic word سِكَّة‎ (sikka)) in time became “sequin” and came to be used to refer to any shiny circular adornment used to decorate clothing and this persisted long after the use of gold coins for this purpose had (by the mid-Renaissance) ceased although, as valid currency, they were still being exchanged and retained as a store of value well into the twentieth century.  In the West, by 1852 publications devoted to fashion were describing sequins as “ornamental discs or spangles” which although no longer attached to clothes, east of Suez the gold coins were still used as necklaces or earrings and often adorned head-dresses.  Today, far removed from the glittering origins of the things, most sequins are cheap, mass-produced in the Far-East, made from plastic, glass or metal and are applied for just about any decorative purpose including clothes, shoes, jewelry, accessories and even home & commercial decor.