You might not want to be seen in an outfit that includes “jodhpurs,” a “bandanna,” a “cummerbund,” and a “poncho,” but these words don’t mind being seen together in this chapter that explains the roots of words for things people wear.

Bandanna

One of the methods used to dye cloth in India is known as bandhnu. It involves tying a piece of cloth in knots so that certain areas will retain their original color and not be affected by the dye into which the entire piece is being placed. When Portuguese explorers reached India in the 1500s, they purchased some of the material dyed in this fashion and referred to it as bandanna, their adaptation of bandhnu. English borrowed “bandanna.” In time, the word expanded its meaning to include any large, colored handkerchief with a figure or pattern.

Buckle

For many Roman soldiers the most important piece of armor was their helmet. For hundreds of years, the basic style remained the same with only a few changes in the size and shape of the cheek plates, the nose guard, and the neck and shoulder guard. A welcome modification was the chin strap. Soldiers who fastened their straps securely greatly reduced the risk of losing their helmets in battle. Since the fastener that held the chin strap in place lay near or on a soldier’s cheek, the Romans called it a buccula, meaning “little cheek.” As the centuries passed, buccula broadened its definition and was used to refer to any type of clothes fastener. By the time English adopted buccula and adapted the spelling to “buckle,” both the military connection and the association with the cheek had disappeared. The basic meaning, however, remained the same.

After a Roman soldier took his oath of allegiance, he was enrolled in the legion for 20 years. Upon completing the 20 years, he could retire on a pension and was given a piece of land in a conquered region.

Buff

In the western United States, buffalo hunting was common in the 19th century, and buffalo coats, called buffs, became popular. “Buff” soon became the term used to refer to the dull color of the undyed yellow hides. The verb “to buff” (to clean or shine with a treated cloth) traces its origins to the strips of buffalo hide that were used to polish metals such as bronze.

Caftan

Of ancient Middle Eastern origin, most likely from the area between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in present-day Iraq, the caftan was commonly worn by Ottoman rulers. The basic design of every caftan is the same—a loose, ankle-length robe with long sleeves. Today, caftans can be found in almost any part of the world and in a great variety of colors and styles. Our English word comes from the Turkish qaftan.

The Ottoman Empire was at its height during the rule of Suleyman I (1520–1566). At that time, it included the Middle East, North Africa, southeast Europe, and the eastern Mediterranean.

Carat

Today, “carat” refers to the unit of weight—200 milligrams— that is used to measure pearls and precious stones, such as diamonds. Not so with the original “carat,” which traces its roots to the Greek noun keras, meaning “horn.” When the ancients sought a name for the seed of a carob tree, they adapted keras to keration, because the seeds look like little horns. Since carob seeds are all quite similar in size and shape, they came to be used as money. After being adopted and adapted into Italian and French, keration finally entered English as carat and is the accepted international jeweler’s measurement today.

Cloth

Since early times, humans have used a variety of materials to fashion clothes for themselves. The word “cloth” comes from the Greek verb clothein, meaning “to wind thread.” The names of some cloths trace their origins to names of areas or cities connected with the Silk Road. For example, buckram is coarse cotton or linen cloth from Bukhara, a city in Central Asia; madras is a fine, firm cotton cloth from Madras, a major city in India; and shantung is fine fabric made of silk from wild silkworms from Shantung, an older English spelling of Shandong, a province in northeast China. Other textiles trace their roots to languages spoken in the lands through which the Silk Road passed. For example, mohair is made of Angora goat’s hair—from the Arabic mukhayyar (“fine cloth” or “choice”); seersucker is a light cotton, linen, or other crinkled fabric usually with a striped pattern, from the Persian shir u sukkar (“milk and sugar”); and silk is a soft, shiny fabric from Seres, the Greek name for the people from the East, the Chinese.

Cravat

During the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), a regiment of mercenaries from Croatia (which was part of Austria at the time) fought for the French. By custom, each Croat wore a large, colorful muslin scarf that was edged with lace and tied loosely around the neck. The style caught on quickly among both the French soldiers and the French people, who began sporting scarves with long flowing ends. Since the French word for Croatian is Cravate, the French simply borrowed that word for the new kind of tie. When English adopted the custom, they used the same word, but dropped the last letter.

Cummerbund

Centuries ago in Persia (present-day Iran), men wore a cloth around their hips and lower abdomen (loins) that was known as a kamarband. This term was a combination of the words kamar, meaning “loins,” and band, meaning “a strip of cloth used to bind something.” English adapted this term and changed its meaning slightly. Today a cummerbund is still a band of cloth, but one that binds a person’s waist.

Dungaree

Today, “jeans” is used far more frequently than “dungarees” to refer to pants made of coarse denim. “Dungaree” comes from dungri, the Hindi word for the material and also, according to some, the suburb of Bombay, India, where the cloth was first made. Dungri was used for making sails and heavy sheets. After it was introduced into England in the mid-19th century, a clothes manufacturer used it to make pants. Soon stores could not stock enough of the material. Another common material, khaki, also traces its roots to a Hindi word. When first woven in India, it was called khah, meaning “dust,” because that word perfectly described the color of the material.

Levi Strauss was the first to patent jeans with copper rivets in the stress areas in May 1873. The traditional blue cloth used to make jeans was first exported from India to England in the 1830s. The cloth’s durability satisfied the needs of the rough life of the California Gold Rush miners.

Jewels

As the cost of gold, silver, and precious gems continues to increase with each decade, no one today considers jewels to be of little value. Yet, “jewel” does trace its origin to the Latin noun jocus, meaning “a game” or “a trifle.” “A little trifle” was jocale, a term the early French borrowed to form joel and joiel. Joiel later became joie, French for “joy.” Hence, a jewel is something that gives joy and pleasure. Since jewels vary in value, a jewel sometimes is a mere trifle when compared to gold, silver, and precious gems.

Greeks often showed their reciprocal relationship with the gods by leaving votive offerings. The offerings were considered thanksgiving to the gods for past favors. Often, jewelry was offered to goddesses.

Jodhpurs

Jodhpurs are the pants horse riders wear. By design, they are loose-fitting and full above the knees and tight from the knees to the ankles. In the 1800s, British officials stationed in India brought them to England. The term traces its roots to the name of the area in northwestern India where they were traditionally worn.

Milliner

In the 1500s, many Englishwomen considered hats and dress trims imported from the northern Italian city of Milan to be among the best in Europe. In fact, the English called the people who sold these products “milliners,” an adaptation of “Milaner,” which was the English term used to refer to a person from Milan. Today, a milliner is one who designs, makes, trims, or sells women’s hats.

Milan was first settled around 600 b.c. by the Romans. Later, under the emperor Diocletian, who ruled in the years a.d. 284–305, it was the capital of the western Roman Empire.

Pants

Medieval and Renaissance Italian comedy featured a stock character called Pantalone. A thin, foolish old man, Pantalone was constantly ridiculed. Dressed in slippers and wearing glasses, Pantalone always sported a special type of trousers that had long, fitted legs but a loose effect around the hips. In time, Italians began to use the name Pantalone to denote any comic character. Gradually, the term came to represent his trousers. In English, the word became “pantaloons” and was later abbreviated to “pants.”

Poncho

The Araucanian Indians in Chile and Argentina, just south of the area inhabited by the Inca (present-day Peru), used poncho to refer to a cloak that was made of wool and had a hole in the middle for one’s head. The Spanish borrowed both the term and the cloak. In the 19th century, it entered English without a change.

The Araucanian people offered strong resistance to the Spanish invaders in 1536. They managed to drive the Spanish out and reclaimed the land in Chile where their descendants still live today.

Raglan

A sleeve that continues in one piece from the wrist to the collar with no seams at the shoulders is called a raglan sleeve. The name traces its roots to the first Lord Raglan, the British commander in chief in the Crimean War (1853–1856), who was renowned for his courage and for the loose-fitting overcoat he wore on the battlefield with sleeves that extended to the neck. The style of sleeve became popular and was named for him.

Surplice

With no central heating and thick stone walls, churches and chapels in the Middle Ages were very cold and drafty. It became the custom for priests to wear a superpellicium under their official robes, especially in winter during long services. A combination of the Latin preposition super, meaning “over,” and the Medieval Latin noun pellicium, meaning “fur garment,” superpellicium eventually lost its “fur” association. Nevertheless, when it entered the English language as “surplice,” it did retain some of its original meaning. A surplice is an outer garment worn by clergy over their regular clothes.

Torc

Torc (also spelled “torque”) is the twisted collar worn around the neck by ancient Gauls, Britons, and Teutons. It traces its roots to the Latin verb torquere, meaning “to twist.”

Teutons are members of any Teutonic people, especially the Germans. They lived north of the Elbe River in Jutland, a region consisting of northern Germany and Denmark.