Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-01-16
WaistcOat-'Vsst'- TrOusers-'Pants.

NEW ! OK SUM-
An esteemed correspondent in Maine,
having read our replies 10 a correspond
emit I'm New Jersey who sought light on
the subject of the proper vest" neck
tie. and shirt-studs, for evening wear,
propounds a series Of questions when
may be resolved into these two:
/. (Which is correct-'vest' or waist
coat'?"
.. where does the word trousers
come from, and what is the origin OF
'pantaloons' and 'pants'?"
without assuming to decide SUMMARY
" and arbitrarily upon the relative merits
Of west" and "wastcoat," we may say
az the outset that the latter word has
the right Of way. as it were. 1t was the
first to be applied TO the garment worn
around the waist Of the manly form.
Many years ago oliver Wendell Holmes
spoke OF
The dangerous waistcoat called by
cockneys west"
According to the definition of the old
dictionaries, it is "a garment without
sleeves, worn under a coat" In other
words, "waistcoat' Is old English; vest
is more modern Pepys, in his diary,
wherein great and little things were all
recorded with impartial fulness, sets down
the fact that he has bought "a new black
baize waiste-coat faced with silk"
1t IS apparent that the word vest is
an abbreviation of "vestment," an ex-
.ra0' p romrrehensive and archaic term
applied TO all garments worn by any
person, male or female. For eX-
ample. Milton. describing the appear
ance Of the Archangel Michael, who visit
ed Satan "as man to man." says that the
celestial caller was wen dressed. and
over his lucid arms
A military vest Of purple flowed.
This indicated a robe, not a waistcoat.
And very much older poet write:
painted vest Prince Vortigern had on
Which from naked Pict his grandsire
won.
We leave to others the calculation Of
the problem OF the nakedness of the Pict
and his wearing vest. though naked
But here again it is clear that the west
is a full garment not waistcoat
William Browne in his Britannia"
written in 1913 and along there, says:
And with armes graceth waist-coate fine
Embracing him as it would ne'er untwine.
In this case the waistcoat was evidently
worn Just where a woman's arms would
most naturally be entv1ned.
The case, then is pretty clearly made
cut in favor Of the waistcoat, "called by
cockneys vest according to the Boston
poet.
The word "trowsers" (modernized into
"trousers'O seems 10 be derived from the
verb "to truss or ITO trow," or bind, or
tie so called, perhaps, from the garment
being girt or laced tight about the body
Before the invention Of suspenders (once
called "gallowses'D, mems trousers were
girt or fastened about the hips by
girdle or belt Michael Drayton, in his
monumental work, "Polyolbion." written
in 1922. refers to
The poor trowz'd Irish there,
Whose nantes stood for mail, whose
skins for corselets were.
The same word is used in Mickle's "Iu-
siad" where "warlke trowsers" are
mentioned as part OF a hero's neither
equipment, being "laced with gold" and
incasing "his manly legs" The modern
"pantaloons" is a vile word, foisted upon
us by the French, though possibly de-
rived from the italian "pantalone, or
"pantaeOn." The pantommic character
who bears that name is an old man, the
butt Of youthful Harlequin. Shakes
peares lean and slippered Pautaloon"
is the parent Of the reproach now cast
upon the bifurcated garment better
known as trousers. Butler. in his "Hu-
dbras." spurns the Gallo word:
And az the French we conquered once
Now give us laws for pantaloons,
The length of breeches.
That is TO say, the French were then
giving fashions TO England, lengthening
their knee-breeches into 'pantaloons.
AS for the word pants" hardly any
thing too contemptuous can be said OF
II. Oliver Wendell Holmes, 10 quote
the Boston poet once more, puts pants"
and west" into the same category when
he says:
The things named pants" in certain
documents,
A word not made for gentlemen, but
gents"
To sum IN: pants" pantaloons."
and west" may be relegated 10 the usage
of the vulgar and the word-clpping multi
tude. The waistcoat and the trousers
were good enough for our ancestors.
They should be good enough for us.