The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-23

or that bark back to the more remote Sar-
acens and Arabs. AT a very early period
IN the northern republics of Italy COM
merce and manufacture became very ac-
tive. due in a great measure to the slim
ulus given by the maritime supremacy OF
the cities of Genoa, Pisa and Venice, and
TO the corresponding activity in trade in
SUCH prosperous interior cities Milan,
Florence, Bologna and Padau. Milan and
Mantua gave us milliners and mantua-
makers, and Leghorn attached its name to
a certain kind of hat and straw.
In more recent times England, Ireland
and Scotland have contributed a large num-
Der of new names to designate fabrics made
IN certain localities. Tweeds, cheVlots and
Lindsey Woolsey are familiar examples
Worsted has been traced TO the village of
Worstead, near Norfolk, while kerSeymere
got its name from Kersey and its mere
or lake. Drugget may be traced to Droghe-
da, Ireland made famous by one of Crom-
wells bloodiest victories.
Among other materials. of diverse origin,
may be mentioned "batiste,' which retains
the name of its French inventor BaptiSte;
and grenadine, which is only a French va
RANT of Granada. Flannel it was long
supposed, got its name from the town OF
I4lanelly, in Wales, but the word is now
thought TO be derived from the Welsh word
"gwlanen' which means both flannel and
wool Flannel, it should be rememhered.
was formerly written "iannen," and is still
occasionally so pronounced by. ignorant.
young and some old-fashioned persons
Velvet has a similar, if not the same, or
igin, but is traceable directly TO the Latin
''villus" shaggy hair. Jet, which is so eX.
dresses, was first found near the river and
town of Gagas, in Asia Minor. The old
French name of this species Of :. mineral
the origin of both the mineral and the En-
glish word.
Most of the terms referring to dress or
clothing have very simple meanings and
the origins are not far to seek. To begin
with the two eXtremities of man, it may
aa8 for tnf and the
thing, that is, "a cover" Both are derived
from an old Aryan root "Sku' or ''Skad,"
which is also the origin of our word for sky.
The Germans call a thimble a hngerhut
or finger hat or cover. Hood is exactly the
same word as hat
HEAD COVERINGS
The idea of a cover for protection has
been utilized to a very large extent in form
ing new words to denote the various and
everchanging articles of dress. Cap and
cape" come from the same word one used
to cover the head and the other to cover the
shoulders and chest Goat also signifies
a covering, When the ancient Teutons de-
vised a covering for their hands they took
their word 'lof" which means palm of the
hand, and put before it the cumulative par
ticle "ge," and ''ge-lof," meaning something
to cover the palm, became in time our
glove This would seem to indicate that the
first gloves were used to protect the palm
from the swordhandle or the friction OF the
oar, possible in the boats of the Vikings.
Other terms were used as somewhat de-
Scriptive of the shape of ornamentation of
the garment. Cloak is derived from
''cloaca," Latin for bell" as it resembled
a bell when it was drawn about the throat
shirt" comes from a Teutonic word mean
ing short, distinguishing it probably from
the long toga or robe. Skirt" is the same
word.
The Osmanlis call their peculiar head
dress a "tulbend," which we have trans
formed into turban. They borrowed the
Persian word ''dulbend" a tulip to describe
the form of their head covering, but
changed "a to st. in conformity with their
language. Our word tulip is, therefore, the
same word as turban.
Brooches is an old word happily fast
dying. When the Romans Waged war on
the Parthians and Kelts in regions colder
than any to which they had been accus-
toned they adopted the Gallo breek, which
they called "braccae." The Kettle word
is 'brech," and means varegated, or a
plaid The word "breek" is itself a plural
FORM and "breeks or 'breeches'' is a
double plural. Trousers is a plural formed
from truss which means bag" This
may account historically for certain we'll
known propensity of trousers to bag at the
knees. PantalOons tells a different story.
Their name has been traced to the patron
saint of Venice st. Pantaleone. The word
means ''all lion. "Pantaleon became q
sort of nickname for all Venetians, and so
passed on to ''pantaloon," the clown, and
to our modern pantaloons, and, alas! even
to pants"