A buskin is a knee- or calf-length

boot A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

made of

leather Leather is a strong, flexible and durable material obtained from the tanning (leather), tanning, or chemical treatment, of animal skins and hides to prevent decay. The most common leathers come from cattle, sheep, goats, equine animals, buffal ...

cloth Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is n ...

, enclosed by material, and laced, from above the toes to the top of the boot, and open across the toes. The word buskin, only recorded in English since 1503 meaning "half boot", is of unknown origin, perhaps from

Old French Old French (, , ; ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France approximately between the late 8th French ''brodequin'') or directly from its [

French language">French ''brodequin'') or directly from its Middle Dutch model ''brosekin'' "small leather boot". A high-heeled buskin (Greek language">Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

''kothornos'' () or Latin ''cothurnus'') was worn by Athenian Tragedy">tragic A tragedy is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character or cast of characters. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy is to invoke an accompanying catharsis, or a "pain ...

actors (to make them look taller). Buskins therefore sometimes appear as a symbol of tragedy, often contrasted with "sock" (from Latin ''soccus''), the low shoe worn by Comedy (drama), comedians. The buskin was also worn by hunters, and soldiers in Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek, Etruscan civilization, Etruscan, and Ancient Rome, Roman societies, to protect the lower legs against thorns, dirt, etc.

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

s were formally clad in purple buskins, embroidered in gold with

double-headed eagle The double-headed eagle is an Iconology, iconographic symbol originating in the Bronze Age. The earliest predecessors of the symbol can be found in Mycenaean Greece and in the Ancient Near East, especially in Mesopotamian and Hittite Empire#icon ...

s.John Julius Norwich, ''A Short History of Byzantium'', Penguin 1998, p. 248.

References

* {{Historical clothing Ancient Greek theatre Greek clothing Roman Catholic vestments Historical footwear

See also

References