History of The Word 'coat'
The Persians, based in what is now Iran, introduced two garments to the history of clothing: trousers and seamed fitted coats.
Coat is one of the earliest clothing category words in English, attested as far back as the early Middle Ages. (See also Clothing terminology.)
An early use of coat in English is coat of mail (chainmail), a tunic-like garment of metal rings, usually knee- or mid-calf length.
The medieval and renaissance coat (generally spelled cote by costume historians) is a midlength, sleeved men's outer garment, fitted to the waist and buttoned up the front, with a full skirt in its essentials, not unlike the modern coat.
By the eighteenth century, overcoats had begun to supplant capes and cloaks as outer wear, and by the mid-twentieth century the terms jacket and coat became confused for recent styles; the difference in use is still maintained for older garments.
Read more about this topic: Coat (clothing)
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history and/or word:
“The history of his present majesty, is a history of unremitting injuries and usurpations ... all of which have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world, for the truth of which we pledge a faith yet unsullied by falsehood.”
—Thomas Jefferson (17431826)
“Postmodernism is, almost by definition, a transitional cusp of social, cultural, economic and ideological history when modernisms high-minded principles and preoccupations have ceased to function, but before they have been replaced with a totally new system of values. It represents a moment of suspension before the batteries are recharged for the new millennium, an acknowledgment that preceding the future is a strange and hybrid interregnum that might be called the last gasp of the past.”
—Gilbert Adair, British author, critic. Sunday Times: Books (London, April 21, 1991)
“The word obligation is very seldom in my thoughts, and consequently very seldom is it uttered by my tongue. For I am satisfied that whoever hath the word obligation continually in his mouth hath the love of tyranny steadily fixed in his heart.”
—Sarah Fielding (17101768)