English
jackboot
Jackboot comes from Old French jaque ‘coat of mail’, and goes back to Arabic شَكّ ‘breastplate’.
- Arabicc. 500–presentشَكّ‘breastplate’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400jaque‘coat of mail’
- Englishearliest quotation 1829jackboot
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Arabicc. 500–presentشَكّ‘breastplate’
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400jaque‘coat of mail’
- Englishearliest quotation 1829jackboot
Earliest quotation: 1829, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, London: Henry Colburn: “On a huge tomb-like table in the middle of…”
Linked words
through Old French jaque ‘coat of mail’
Today it means
noun A glossy leather calf-covering military boot, commonly associated with German soldiers of the WWII era.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Arabic شَكّ / jackboot