I agree with Mr. Trench in thinking, that neither of these derivations is the correct one. But I am obliged, quite as decidedly, to reject that which he proceeds to offer. He thinks that we owe--
"_Bigot_ rather to that profound impression which the Spaniards made upon all Europe in the fifteenth and the following century. Now the word _bigote_," he continues, "means in Spanish 'moustachio;' and as contrasted with the smooth, or nearly smooth, upper lip of most other people, at that time the Spaniards were the 'men of the moustachio'.... That they themselves connected firmness and resolution with the mustachio; that it was esteemed the outward symbol of these, it is plain from such phrases as 'pombre de bigote,' a man of resolution; 'tener bigotes,' to stand firm. But that in which they eminently displayed their firmness and resolution in those days was their adherence to whatever the Roman see imposed and taught. What then more natural, or more entirely according to the law of the generation of names, than that this striking and distinguishing outward feature of the Spaniard should have been laid hold of to express that character and condition of mind which eminently were his, and then transferred to all others who shared the same?"
Of this it must be admitted, that "se non e vero, e ben trovato." And the only reason for rejecting such an etymology is the existence of another with superior claims.
_Bigot_ is derived, as I think will be hardly doubted on consideration, from the Italian _bigio_, grey. Various religious confraternities, and especially a branch of the order of St. Francis which, from being parcel secular and parcel regular, was called "Terziari di S. Francesco," clothed themselves in grey; and from thence were called _Bigiocchi_ and _Bigiotti_. And from a very early period, the word was used in a bad sense. { 561}
Menage, in his _Origini della Lingua Italiana_, under the word BIZOCO, writes:
"Persono secolare vestita di abito di religione. Quasi 'bigioco' perche ordinariamente gli Ipocriti, e coloro che si fanno dell' ordine di S. Francesco si vestono di bigio."
And Sansovino on the _Decameron_ says that--
"_Bizocco_ sia quasi _Bigioco_, o _Bigiotto_, perchè i Terziari di S. Francesco si veston di bigio."