balteus

• balteum

The term possibly derives from the word for belt in Etruscan.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.te.us/, [ˈbaɫ.te.ʊs]

balteus m (genitive balteī); second declension

1. A belt, girdle
   1. A sub-cinctorium, a papal garment.

• In the Old Testament, Exodus 39:29: A Jewish priest wore a balteus girdle: 3 or 4 fingers in breadth and (according to Rabbinic tradition) 32 ells long; it had to be embroidered after the same pattern and to be of the same colour as the curtain of the forecourt and the tabernacle of the covenant.
• A balteus (sword belt) was worn by the Roman legionary.

Second declension.

• Aromanian: baltsu
• Italian: balzo
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: balç
  • Occitan: baus
• Old Portuguese:
  • Portuguese: balção, balso
• Romanian: balț
• → Germanic: *baltijaz (see there for further descendants)
• → Italian: balteo
• → Portuguese: bálteo
• → Spanish: bálteo

• 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, 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