garter
.
Searchable Lemmata: gareter (AF), garterium (L), garteria (L), garter (ME), gardas (W), gartar (OScots), garter (MdE), garteren (ME), garter (MdE).
Alternate Forms: garder, garetter, garretere, garretier, garter, gartere, gartier, gartiere, gartre, jarter, jartier, gartour, gartre, gertier, garretter, garder, gardere, garthor, garthur, garteriorum, garett, jartero, garterio, garrotere, gartherii, garteriis, garterii, gartersgarteryn, gartered.
Definitions and Defining Citations:
1a(n.)
Accessory;
tie or band worn to support a stocking or hose; a lace or tie for hose or shoes.(circa 1250 still in current use)
1. zonas de serico in argento preparatas precii xl s. et duo paria garett' in argento preparatarum precii xx s. ... duas faldin' pretii ij m.
Accounts.
[DMLBS IMisc (145/5) circa 1341]
Sex: Male, Female Use: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Foot, Leg.
1b(n.)
Law/Custom;
badge of the Order of the Garter (established by Edward III in c.1348); an emblematic representation of a garter (on decorated cloth, a building, a chasuble, etc.), characteristically as a circle with a dangling end; or, specifically, an embroidery pattern which depicts the emblem of the Order [DMLBS]; the Order of the Garter itself (in ME/MdE expressions such as 'ordre/order of the garter'; 'knight/lord of the garter'), hence, a knight of the garter; in AF expressions: 'Compaignie de la Gareter' (Order of the Garter), 'Ordre de la Gareter' (Order of the Garter), 'Chevaler de la Gareter' (knight of the garter), 'Compaignon de la Gareter' ('Companion of the Order of the Garter). Also, the title of the principal of the chief heralds of the College of Arms (ME 'Maister of the Garter', 'Garter King of Armes').(ante 1350 still in current use)
1. [E101/395/2/23] ... robes d’une suite embroidés de jarters. ... [E101/395/2/28] ... facez liverer quatre draps de baldekyns de Luke (=from Lucca) ... deux pieces de drap de soy contenantz sys draps baldeskyns double ... deux draps de soy d’Outremer baldekyns pur lour ent faire paltoks
Accounts.
[AND PRO E101/395/2 (23-28) circa 1370]
2. [38] ... viij pecie de rubanto adaurato ... [39] ... iiij pelles de bazano ... vj pelles de Roan ... [40] ... Ad faciendum L wyspes operat. de syndon., serico, & Aylesham pro domino nostro Rege ... [41] ... Ad faciendum xij garteria de blu broudata de auro & serico quolibet habente dictamen `Hony soyt qui mal y pense' ... ij paria de greues ... [45] ... Cum tela de Reyns Parys & bultell & cotoun ... [46] ... Stoffe pro tapet de worsted, [etc.]
Accounts.
[MED Wardrobe Acc.Edw.III(1) in Archaeol.31 (38-46) 1345/1349]
3. xlj. s. et viij. d. paiez pur cynk centz messes chauntez pur l'alme de nostre tres cher compaignon monsire Wauter de Manny un des Chivalers de la Garter.
Accounts.
[AND GAUNT1 (ii 51) 1372/1376]
4. [132] ... Item, I bequethe to the said chirch, ane hole sute of vestmytes [read: vestmyntes] of russet velvet ... One coope, chesible diacones, for decones; with the awbes and parures ... 1 chesible diacones, for decones, or frees of white clothe of gold powdred with garters ... [134] ... On vestment ... that ys of blak satyn ground, figured wyth rede velvet ... I bequethe ... myne executors to make for the same chalice ii small nets of sylver and over-gilt.
Wills.
[MED Will Brugco in Nichols Illust. (132-134) 1449]
5. Instruccion yeven by þe King ... to Garter King of armes ... Furst þe said Gartier after presentacion of his lettres [etc.].
Legal.
[MED Proc.Privy C. (3.259) 1427]
6. ad faciend' xij garteria de blu broudata de auro et serico quolibet habente dictamen: hony soyt qui mal y pense
Accounts.
[DMLBS Arch. (XXXI 40) 1349]
9. [33] ... ad faciendum DCCC penuncell' pro lanceis armigerorum et aliorum hominum ad arma regis de armis S. Georgii ... Et ad faciencum .ij. stremar’ curt’ de armis Regis quartellatis. Et ad faciendum .ij. Guydones de eisdem armis Regis ... [34] ... ad faciendum unum lectum de taffata bluet' pro rege poudratum cum garteriis continentibus istud dictatem [? l. dictatum]: hony soit qui mal y pense
Accounts.
[DMLBS Arch. (XXXI 33-34) 1349]
Sex: Male Use: Secular Status: High Rank: High Ceremonial: Yes
Body Parts:
1c(n.)
Textile;
material from which the badge of the Garter is made (blue velvet)? [MED]. Also note sense 1b above, with reference to a pattern of embroidery which represents the emblem of the Order.(circa 1400 - circa 1415)
Sex: Male Use: Secular Status: High Rank: High Ceremonial: Yes
Body Parts: Leg.
2(vb.)
Other;
to tie with a garter (particularly hose). Also as a past participle.(circa 1440 still in current use)
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Leg.
Etymological Evidence:
Definite, Old French gartier, jartier, jarretier, etc.), from Old French garet, jaret (the bend of the knee or the lower part of the leg). Verbal forms from the noun. Parry-Williams (1923)a, p. 73, argues that 'gardas' enters Welsh from the English. Also note the later OScots forms garten(e, garten(e [DOST].
The OED adds: 'A form jarre, garra, in Fr. dialects answers to Sp. and Pg. garra, and may be of Celtic origin = Breton gar, Welsh gâr the ham or leg-bone; if so the words must have spread from OFr. to the other Romanic tongues. The substitution of n for r in the Scottish forms is not accounted for' [OED, 2nd ed. (1989), 'garter, n.'].
WF:
Etym Cog:
Archaeological Evidence:
London has silk garter from fourteenth century: Crowfoot, Pritchard and Staniland 2000, Fig. 76
Art and Illustration:
Depiction of a robe patterned with garters. Sir Nigel Loring as a knight of the Order of the Garter, from the Liber Vitae of St Alban's abbey. London, British Library MS Cotton Nero D. vii, fol. 105r.
In Newton, 1980 plate 13, in black and white.
