posticheadj.n.

Etymology: < French postiche (1671; earlier as †postice (1609)) (adjective) counterfeit, feigned, artificial (1638 with reference to architectural ornaments, 1671 in more general sense; earlier in sense ‘attached, superimposed’ (1609 in a Spanish–French dictionary, glossing Spanish postizo )), (noun) piece of false hair (1690 in plural postiches ), feigning, pretence (beginning of the 20th cent. or earlier), probably partly < Spanish postizo (adjective) artificial, substitute, added on the surface, false (late 13th cent. or earlier), (noun) artificial addition (1587 or earlier), and partly < Italian posticcio (adjective) counterfeit, feigned (first half of the 13th cent., originally with reference to hair), (of an architectural ornament) added afterwards (1570), (of art) artificial (a1574). The spec. sense ‘piece of false hair’ is apparently not recorded for the Spanish and Italian words until much later (19th cent. and 20th cent. respectively). With the adjective compare earlier postique adj.Spanish postizo is probably aphetic < apostizo (late 13th cent. or earlier; rare after 1500) < post-classical Latin appositicius , lit. ‘placed beside’ (3rd cent.) < classical Latin appositus apposite adj. + -īcius (see -itious suffix¹). Italian posticcio is probably < post-classical Latin appositicius . Compare also Catalan postís (adjective) counterfeit, artificial, feigned (1695), (noun) piece of false hair (19th cent. or earlier), aphetic < †apostiç (1490 or earlier). An alternative derivation of Italian posticcio < posto , past participle of porre to put, place (12th cent.; < classical Latin pōnere : see ponent n. and adj.¹) + -iccio (see -itious suffix¹) has also been suggested, but although it is likely that the form of posticcio was to a certain extent influenced by posto, the parallel occurrence of both the full and the aphetic form from an early date in Spanish appears to favour the derivation given above.