bleaunt

Searchable Lemmata: bliaut (AF), bliauta (L), bleaunt (ME), bliant (W), bleaunt (MdE).

Alternate Forms: blialt, bliaud, bliant, bliaunt, bliotas, blihand, blehand, blihaut, blyot, bleaut.

NOTE(n.) ; Old French 'bliaut' has been associated with a fine, usually silken fabric (cf. sense 1). It is also regularly associated with garments worn by both men and women of high status in twelfth- and early thirteenth-century poetry and romance, and continues to carry these senses in Britain into the fifteenth century (cf. sense 2). Certain French authorities describe the man's garment as a piece of military or ceremonial dress by the fourteenth century, often richly decorated and perhaps worn under, or in lieu of, the hauberk. Certain clothing historians have identified the woman's version of the garment with the long gown with tight bodice and skirt with many folds depicted in certain sculptures in France - although not without controversy. Cf. Chambers, M. & L.M. Sylvester (2010), 67-8; Gardner, R. (1950), 63-5; and Houston, M. (1996/1939), 220. Also cf. H. Davidson's article in Owen-Crocker, G. H., et al. (2011). Morphologically, the appearance of the -n- in some Germanic and Middle English forms is unexplained and is absent from Latin, continental French and other southern European forms.(ante 1170 - post 1450) 1(n.) Textile; expensive fabric; possibly silk or fine linen.(ante 1300 - circa 1400 ?) 2(n.) Garment; garment made from fine silk or similar material (cf. cendal). The term is usually described as a tunic.(ante 1170 - circa 1450 ?) 3(n.) Furnishing; bedspread (possibly made from the fine material in sense 1).(ante 1400 - circa 1450 ?)