entry
belt
/bɛlt/A strap encircling, fastening, or powering something
From Proto-Germanic, ultimately borrowed from Latin belt (Girdle or encircling strap).
from Latin balteus "girdle, sword belt," which is said by Varro to be an Etruscan word. The transferred sense of "broad...
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Germanic *baltijaz (“girdle, belt”)
from Middle English belt
from Middle English belt
Word Ancestry
from Latin balteus "girdle, sword belt," which is said by Varro to be an Etruscan word. The transferred sense of "broad...
+1 more sourcefrom Proto-Germanic *baltijaz (“girdle, belt”)
from Middle English belt
from Middle English belt
A belt began its career as something much grander than a way to keep trousers up: Latin balteus meant a girdle or sword belt, the sort of thing that could carry a weapon as well as clothing. Germanic speakers borrowed the word as *baltijaz, and Old English eventually pared it down to belt—the same compact shape we still use. The ultimate source may be Etruscan, according to the Roman scholar Varro, which gives the word a faint archaeological echo from pre-Roman Italy rather than a securely known Indo-European pedigree. By the 1660s, people were using belt for any broad stripe encircling something; by 1808, it could mean a broad region such as a “Bible Belt.” Boxing added championship belts by 1812, machinery added the power-transfer belt in 1795, and “below the belt” arrived from pugilism in 1889—so one old sword strap now stretches from medieval waists to engines, maps, and unfair punches.
The Story
A belt began its career as something much grander than a way to keep trousers up: Latin balteus meant a girdle or sword belt, the sort of thing that could carry a weapon as well as clothing. Germanic speakers borrowed the word as *baltijaz, and Old English eventually pared it down to belt—the same compact shape we still use. The ultimate source may be Etruscan, according to the Roman scholar Varro, which gives the word a faint archaeological echo from pre-Roman Italy rather than a securely known Indo-European pedigree. By the 1660s, people were using belt for any broad stripe encircling something; by 1808, it could mean a broad region such as a “Bible Belt.” Boxing added championship belts by 1812, machinery added the power-transfer belt in 1795, and “below the belt” arrived from pugilism in 1889—so one old sword strap now stretches from medieval waists to engines, maps, and unfair punches.
Modern Usage
To hit someone, drink a shot of liquor, or refer to a broad region
Notable References
- below the belt
- Bible Belt
- under one's belt
Kin & Kindred
From 'belt'·Girdle or encircling strap
Cognates
Related words in other languages
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary