Misplaced Pages

Buskin

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Laced half-boot of Ancient Rome This article is about the ancient boot. For the Roman Catholic liturgical stockings, see Episcopal sandals. For the racehorse, see Buskin (horse).
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Buskin" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (November 2006) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
Buskins

A buskin is a knee- or calf-length boot made of leather or cloth, enclosed by material, and laced, from above the toes to the top of the boot, and open across the toes.

The word buskin, only recorded in English since 1503 meaning "half boot", is of unknown origin, perhaps from Old French brousequin (in modern French brodequin) or directly from its Middle Dutch model brosekin "small leather boot".

A high-heeled buskin (Greek kothornos (Greek: κόθορνος) or Latin cothurnus) was worn by Athenian tragic actors (to make them look taller). Buskins therefore sometimes appear as a symbol of tragedy, often contrasted with "sock" (from Latin soccus), the low shoe worn by comedians.

The buskin was also worn by hunters, and soldiers in Ancient Greek, Etruscan, and Roman societies, to protect the lower legs against thorns, dirt, etc.

Byzantine emperors were formally clad in purple buskins, embroidered in gold with double-headed eagles.

References

  1. Nunn, Joan (2000). Fashion in Costume, 1200-2000. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-56663-279-9.
  2. Myers, Philip Van Ness (1898). A History of Greece: For Colleges and High Schools. Ginn & Company. p. 548. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  3. Bronson, Walter Cochrane (1908). English Poems: The Restoration and the eighteenth century (1660-1800). University of Chicago Press. p. 434. Retrieved 2 June 2024.
  4. John Julius Norwich, A Short History of Byzantium, Penguin 1998, p. 248.
Footwear
Dress shoes
Slip-on shoes
Women's
Other shoes
Wooden footwear
Boots
Military
Work
Fashion boots
Other
Sport-related footwear
Folk footwear
Historical footwear
Shoe construction
High heels
Hosiery
List of shoe styles
Historical clothing
Clothing generally not worn today, except in historical settings
Body-length
Tops
Trousers
Skirts
Dresses
Outerwear
Underwear
Headwear
Footwear
Accessories
icon Clothing portal
Categories: