The term gasket, referring to a type of mechanical seal, was adopted in the early 17th century from the Middle French word gaskette with the same meaning. Its etymology remains uncertain, but the prevailing theory suggests it originates from garcette, meaning “little girl”, possibly through a figurative nautical interpretation of “plaited coil”. This would be a diminutive form of garce, which denoted young women, harlots, or concubines, with garce being the feminine equivalent of garcon, still meaning “boy”. Ultimately, this can be traced back to the Frankish reconstruction wrakjo (“servant” or “boy”), Proto-Germanic wrakjon (“exile”), and Proto-Indo-European wreg (“track” or “hunt”). The phrase “to blow a gasket” emerged in the 1940s when gaskets used to seal pressure in car engines were known to occasionally deteriorate and fail.
