Breech clout
Breech clout or Breech-clout is the english name given to the garment worn by Native American males to clothe the groin and buttocks.
An early description of the garment dates from 1634, "a paire of Indian Breeches to cover that which modesty commands to be hid, which is but a peece of cloth a yard and a halfe long, put betweene their groinings, tied with a snakes skinne about their middles, one end hanging downe with a flap before, the other like a taile behinde."[1]
It was probably in spoken use by the late 1600s with the first known appearance in print in 1706 being attributed to William Penn:
- "In this condition, stark naked (his Breech Clout only excepted) he ran to the River".[2]
All other surviving records from the 18th century of breech clout in print are also from north America, most with a Pennsylvania connection, suggesting the name arose in that state.
- Their dress consist of the skins of some wild beast, or a blanket, a shirt either of linen, or of dressed skins, a breech clout, leggins, reaching half way up the thigh, and fastened to a belt[3]
- they gave me a Breech-Clout to cover my Nakedness[4] (corrected from bridge clout in 1st Edition,1764)
- In 1768 Breech Clouts are listed in an account of goods supplied by Philadephia merchants Baynton, Wharton and Morgan to Captain Gordon Forbes of His Majesty's 34th Regiment.[5] (This collection also has "Britch Clout" in a certificate dated 1769)
- no better than an Indian's breech-clout[7]
- "Plaguy bad news," replied the wounded Indian; for the squaws have taken the breech-clout, and fight worse than the long knives[8]
- they had bows and arrows, and had otter skins for breech clouts and buffaloe skins instead of blankets;[9]
- several mentions of breech-clout from 1791 to 1814 in official letters an reports[10]
- a breech-clout and leggings[11]
- entirely naked, except a breech-clout[12]
- that he had thrown away the petticoat, and had put on the breech-clout[13]
- I saw numbers [of savages] running towards me, stripped naked, except a breech-clout[14]
At the time, i.e. beginning of the 18th Century, breech meant backside[15] and clout was a piece of cloth.[16] For example in 1653 both words appear in A Chronicle of the Kings of England by Richard Baker:
- a lewd Boy turned up his naked breech towards the Herauld and bid him kisse it[17]
- not so much as a clout left about him to cover his privy parts[18]
See also
References
- ↑ Wood, William (1634), NEW ENGLANDS PROSPECT. A true, lively, and experimentall description of that part of America, commonly called New England
- ↑ Sir John Floter and Dr. Edward Baynard (1706), The History of Cold Bathing: Both Ancient and Modern
- ↑ William Smith, Provost of the College of Philadelphia (1765), An Historical account of the expedition against the Ohio Indians in the year MDCCLXIV under the command of Henry Bouquet, Philadelphia
- ↑ Henry Grace (1765), The History of the Life and Sufferings of Henry Grace, 2nd edition, Philadelphia
- ↑ Theodore Calvin Pease, ed. (1921), Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library
- ↑ "Poughkeepsie, August 23". The New Hampshire Gazette. Portsmouth, N.H. September 7, 1779. p. 2 – via Library of Congress.
- ↑ Prejudice, Peter (June 1788). "Peter Prejudice's complaint of his taylor". The American Museum. Philadephia.
- ↑ "Extract of a Letter from Colonel James Perry...dated April 20". Walker's Hibernian Magazine for December 1788.
- ↑ "PITTSBURGH, July 2". Gazette of the United-States. Philadelphia PA. July 13, 1791. p. 3 – via Library of Congress.
- ↑ Walter Lowrie and Matthew St. Clair Clarke, ed. (1832), American State Papers May 25, 1789 to September 17, 1814, Superintendent of Government Documents
- ↑ Hugh Henry Brackenridge (1792), Modern Chivalry : containing the adventures of Captain John Farrago, and Teague Oregan, his servant, Philadelphia
- ↑ William Bartram (1792), Bartram's Travels, Philadelphia and London
- ↑ Benjamin Smith Barton (1797), New views of the origin of the tribes and nations of America, Philadelphia
- ↑ "PITTSBURGH, July 2". Gazette of the United-States. Philadelphia PA. July 13, 1791. p. 3 – via Library of Congress.
- ↑ Nathan Bailey (1726), A Universal Etymological English Dictionary, 3rd Edition
- ↑ ibid Page 182/942
- ↑ Baker, Richard (1653), A Chronicle of the Kings of England
- ↑ ibid page 338
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