baldric

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English

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WOTD – 11 June 2025

Etymology

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A late-18th- to early-19th-century baldric (sense 1) used to hold a pistol, from Catalonia, Spain.[n 1]
A drum major of the III Marine Expeditionary Force Band, United States Marine Corps, wearing a ceremonial baldric (sense 1).

From Middle English baudrik, bauderik, baudry (“belt worn over the shoulder or around the waist for carrying a sword, etc., baldric; (by extension) type of leather strap”),[1] from Old French baldré, baldrei, baudré (“crossbelt, sword-belt”) (modern French baudrier); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Frankish *balterād, from earlier *baltiraidī (“belt gear, belt equipment”) (compare Old Occitan baldrei, baudrat), from Frankish *balti (“belt”), from Latin balteus (possibly borrowed from Etruscan 𐌁𐌀𐌋𐌕𐌄𐌀 (baltea, “belt”)) + Frankish *(ga)raidī (“equipment”).[2] However, the Oxford English Dictionary states that a derivation from balteus does not satisfactorily account for the bald- spelling in the various languages.[3] Middle High German balderich, belderich, derived from the Old French word, may have influenced the Middle English form.

Sense 2.3 (“zodiac”) is from its resemblance to a belt ornamented with jewels (sense 1).[3]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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baldric (plural baldrics)

  2. A broad belt, originally of leather and often richly ornamented, worn diagonally from shoulder to hip (across the breast and under the opposite arm), which was formerly used to hold a sword, a bugle, etc., and is now chiefly worn for ceremonial purposes; also (loosely), any belt. [from 14th c.]
  3. (obsolete)
    1. (by extension) A (usually leather) strap from which the clapper of a bell is suspended.
      • 1585 (date written), J[ohn] C[harles] L[ett] Stahlschmidt, “Part III. Inscriptions.”, in The Church Bells of Kent: Their Inscriptions, Founders, Uses and Traditions, London: Elliot Stock, […], published 1887, →OCLC, page 276:
        [P]aid to the Collermaker of Leawsam for a bawdricke for the great bell … … … iijs.
        Entry from A Bocke of the Accountes off the Churche Wardens Called a Ledgere Begininge the XIJ Day of July in the Yeare of Our Lorde Gode 1554.
      • 1615, Thomas Thomas, “The Bawdricke of a bell-clapper”, in Thomæ Thomasii Dictionarium […], 10th edition, London: […] Iohannis Legati, celeberrimæ Academiæ Cantabrigiensis typographi, →OCLC, column 1:
        The Bawdricke of a bell-clapper. Ropalicorigia.
      • 1883, Frederick George Lee, “The Church, Its History and Antiquities”, in The History, Description, and Antiquities of the Prebendal Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Thame, in the County and Diocese of Oxford, […], London: Mitchell and Hughes, […], →OCLC, columns 18–19:
        The Bells were evidently a constant source of expense, and very large sums were spent in their re-casting and re-hanging. Scarcely a year passed without some new bell-wheel, bawdricke, rope or clapper being required.
    2. (by extension) A necklace.
      • 1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Substantyues”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio xix, recto, column 1; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:
        Baldrike for a ladyes necke carcan s[ubstantive] ma[le]
    4. (figurative) The zodiac (“belt-like region of the celestial sphere, approximately eight degrees north and south of the ecliptic, which includes the apparent path of the sun, moon, and visible planets”).
      • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 11, page 190:
        [S]he [Astraea] hath novv an euerlaſting place, / Mongſt thoſe tvvelue ſignes, vvhich nightly vve doe ſee / The heauens bright-ſhining baudricke to enchace; […]
      • 1621, Fra[ncis] Quarles, “Sect[ion] 13. Meditatio decimatertia.”, in Hadassa: Or The History of Queene Ester: With Meditations thereupon, Diuine and Morall, London: […] Richard Moore, […], →OCLC, signature K, verso:
        Right fondly haue the Poets pleaſ'd to ſay, / From earth the faire Aſtræa’s fled avvay, / And in the ſhining Baudrike takes her ſeat, / To make the number of the ſignes compleat.

Alternative forms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Notes

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  1. ^ From the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York, U.S.A.

References

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  1. ^ “bauderī̆k, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ Compare etymology and history of “baldric”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 “baldric, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “baldric, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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