balteus

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin balteus (“belt, girdle”).

Noun

balteus (plural baltei)

1. (biblical) The girdle of a biblical Jewish priest.
2. (Ancient Rome) A swordbelt worn by Roman legionaries.
3. (architecture) An Ionic ornamental band encircling the pulvinus, or bolster of the capital.
4. (Roman Catholicism) The subcinctorium, a papal garment.

Latin

Alternative forms

• balteum

Etymology

The term possibly derives from the word for “belt” in Etruscan, 𐌁𐌀𐌋𐌕𐌄𐌀 (baltea).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.te.us/, [ˈbäɫ̪t̪eʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.te.us/, [ˈbäl̪t̪eus]

Noun

balteus m (genitive balteī); second declension

1. A belt, girdle
   1. A sub-cinctorium, a papal garment.
2. (architecture) Synonym of praecinctio (curved walkway that separates the galleries of a Roman theatre)

Usage notes

• In the Old Testament, Exodus 39:29: A Jewish priest wore a balteus girdle: 3 or 4 fingers in breadth and (according to Rabbinic tradition) 32 ells long; it had to be embroidered after the same pattern and to be of the same colour as the curtain of the forecourt and the tabernacle of the covenant.
• A balteus (sword belt) was worn by the Roman legionary.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	balteus	balteī
Genitive	balteī	balteōrum
Dative	balteō	balteīs
Accusative	balteum	balteōs
Ablative	balteō	balteīs
Vocative	baltee	balteī

Descendants

• Aromanian: baltsu
• Norwegian: belte
• Italian: balzo
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: balç
  • Occitan: baus
• Old Galician-Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: balção, balso
• Romanian: balț
• → Proto-Germanic: *baltijaz (see there for further descendants)
  • English: belt
• → Italian: balteo
• → Portuguese: bálteo
• → Spanish: bálteo

References

• “balteus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “balteus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• balteus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• balteus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “balteus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “balteus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “balteus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “balteus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 1: A–B, page 226