pauldron
English
Alternative forms
- pouldron
- powldron
- puldron
- polron
Etymology
From earlier pouldron,[1] poleron, paleron[2] from Middle English polron,[2] palerns, pollerons.[3] This may have been borrowed from Old French paleron,[3] which derives from elements corresponding to French pale (“blade (of a shovel, etc)”) + -eron but was semantically influenced by Old French espaule (“shoulder”) (whence French épaule).[4] Alternatively, some references derive the Middle English word from Middle French espalleron, espauleron, from Old French espaule.[2][5] Although a form with d at the end is found in Middle English (polrondys,[3] compare Early Modern English polrynges c. 1550), the interpolation of a d between the l and the r dates to the 1500s;[1] the d, and the preference since the early 1800s for the spelling and pronunciation with paul- rather than poul-, may be due to the influence of spaulder.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈpɔl.dɹən/
Noun
pauldron (plural pauldrons)
- A component of plate armor that protects the shoulder, generally covering more than a spaulder, also protecting the armpit and overlapping with other armor over the upper chest and back.
- Coordinate terms: spaulder, epauliere, espauliere
- 1834, Matthew Holbeche Bloxam, A Glimpse at the Monumental Architecture and Sculpture of Great Britain from the Earliest Period to the Eighteenth Century:
- Upon the espaulieres are placed pauldrons, also ridged, with the edges turned up, so as to form the prototypes of pass-guards.
Translations
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See also
- vambrace
- epaulette
Further reading
pauldron on Wikipedia.Wikipedia - Armor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
- Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.
- “pauldron”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
- “polron, noun.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- “paleron”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
- “pauldron”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary