Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-02-03
",rAIsrcOA1v AND "rnoUsns,. .

| These Are Correct Not vest" "Iapts,' or
"Pantaioons"-A Learned Discussion.
An esteemed correspondent in Maine.
says the New York Sun, having read
Our replies to a correspondent in Now
Jersey who sought light on tho sub iect
of tho proper vest, " neckte anu shirt
studs for evening wear, propounds a
serios of questions which may be 70.
solved into these two:
]. (which ia correct, 'veBt or waist.
coat9'
"Where does this word 'trousers'
come from. aud what is tho origin Of
pantaluons' and 'pantsY' "
Without assuming TO decide SUM
marily and arbitrarily upon the relative
merits of west" and waistcoat, " we
may say at the outset that the latter
word has tho right Of way. as il were.
1t was the frat to DO applied 10 tha
garment worn around the waist OF the
manly form. Many years ago Oliyer
Wendell Holmes spoke of
The dangerous waistcoat called by cock
ncYs vest
According to the definition Of the old
| dictionaries, 1t 10 "a garment without
ssevos, worn under a coat" 10 Other
words, waistcoat" ia old English,
| N'ut 10 mult llubbIhs NUNH. IN Mn
diary, wherein great aud little things
were all recorded with impartial full
ness, sets down tho fact that he has
bought "a now black haizo waiste coat
faced with silk.
1t is apparent that the word "yostu
ia an ahbreviatipn Of yontment, " an
exceedingly comprehensive and archaic
torn applied to nil the garment worn
by any person, mule or female. For
example, Milton. describing the an.
pearance of the Archangol Michael,
VINO visited Satan as man tn man."
says that the celestial caller was we'll
dressed, and
Over his lucid arms
A military vest OF purple flowed
This indicated robe. not waist.
coat, And very much Older poet
wrote:
painted vest Prince Vortigern had on,
Which from naked pict his gran dsire won,
We leave to others the slucidatiun Of
the problem of the nakedness of tho
Pct and his wearing a veet, though
naked. But here again it is clear that
the vest" is full garment, not a
walstcoat. William Browne in his
britannia. written in 1913 and along,
there, says;
And with her armes graceth waist -coate tina
Embracing him as it would nc'cr untwinc.
In this case the waistcout was eyi-
dently worn Just where a woman's arms
would most naturally he entwined.
The case then is pretty clearly made
out IN favor OF the waistcoat, "called
by cockneys vest p" according to the
Boston poet.
The word "trowsors" (moderpized
into "trousers'l seems to he derived
from the verb " TO truss. - or ito trow,'j
or bind, or tie, SO called, perhaps, from
the garment being grit or laced tight
about the body. Before the invention
Of suspenders, tonce called "gal-
lowses, " mems trousers were grit mr.
fastened about The hips by girdle or
belt. Michael Drayton, in his monu-
mental work, Pclyolbion, +" written in
1922, refers TO
The poor trowzd Irish there.
Whose nantes stood for mail whose skins
for corselet5 were.
The Same word is used in Mickle's
Lusiad," where "warlike trowsers''
are mentioned as part OF hero's neither
equipment, being "laced with gold''
and incasing 'his manly legs. i" Tho
modern ''pantaioons'' is a vile word,
foisted upon US by tho French, though
possibly derived from the Italian rem
talone," or "pantanon. The panto.
mimic character who bears that name
is an old man, the butt of youthful
Harlequin. shakespeare lean anu
slippersd Pantaloon" is the parent of
the Ieprouon now cast upon the bI.
furcated garment better known as
trousers. Butler, in his "Hudihras, -
spurns the Gallo word;
And as the French we conquered once
Now give us laws for pautaloons
The length of breeches.
That is to say, the French were tbeu
giving fashions to England, lengthen-
ing their knee breaches into "papta-
looms" AS for the word pants"
hardly anything TOO contemptuous can
be said about it. Oliver Wendell
Holmes, to quote tho Boston poet once
more, puts pants" aud "yestn into
the same category when he says:
The things named pants in certain docu.
ments,
word not made for gentlemen, bnt
gents
To sum up: Pants pantaIoonsn
aud vest" may he regulated to ths ,
usage OF the vulgar and the word clip
ping multitude. The waiHtcuat ami ina
trousers were good enough for our an
ccestorN' They should be good enough
Tor us.