Latin

Alternative forms

• balteum

Noun

balteus m ‎(genitive balteī); second declension

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

Usage notes

• 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.

Inflection

Second declension.

Descendants

References

• 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)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “balteus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: 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