balteus

Alternative forms

• balteum

Etymology

Charisius says Varro considered it of Etruscan origin (compare Etruscan 𐌁𐌀𐌋𐌕𐌄𐌀 (baltea, “belt”)). Ernout and Meillet accept its Etruscan origin and interpret -eus as a characteristic ending of Etruscan loanwords,^[1] whereas Bonfante Warren is skeptical of this etymology, noting that the voiced consonant /b/ is foreign to Etruscan.^[2]

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.te.us/, [ˈbäɫ̪t̪eʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.te.us/, [ˈbäl̪t̪eus]

Noun

balteus m (genitive balteī); second declension

1. A belt, girdle
   1. A sub-cinctorium, a papal garment.
2. (architecture) Synonym of praecinctio (curved walkway that separates the galleries of a Roman theatre)

References

Further reading

• “balteus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “balteus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• balteus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• balteus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “balteus”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎
• “balteus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “balteus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “balteus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 1: A–B, page 226