bracae

Latin

Etymology

Plural of brāca, probably from Transalpine Gaulish *brāca, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *brāks, *brōks (“rump, hindquarters, leggings, trousers”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrāg- (“rump, hock, hindquarters”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break, crack, split”).

Noun

brācae f pl (genitive brācārum); first declension

1. (plural only) trousers; breeches, britches, pants

Usage notes

The only instance it is used in the singular is by Ovid, in his Tristia.

Declension

First-declension noun, plural only.

Case	Plural
Nominative	brācae
Genitive	brācārum
Dative	brācīs
Accusative	brācās
Ablative	brācīs
Vocative	brācae

Descendants

• Catalan: bragues
• French: braies
• Italian: brache
• Occitan: bragas
• Portuguese: bragas
• Romanian: brace
• Spanish: bragas

References

• “bracae”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• bracae 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)
• bracae in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “bracae”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “bracae”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin