Word To Use Today: peltast.

In these times, when even British neighbourhood policemen:


photo by mattbuck 

are hung about with defensive equipment, The Word Den presents the word peltast.

A peltast is a lightly-armed foot soldier.


Photograph by Mike Peel (www.mikepeel.net)., CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79127537


(Here's a line drawing to make that image a bit more comprehensible:


illustration by George Scharf)

Actually, I'm not sure I want to see our neighbourhood policeman going about wearing flower pot hats and little - or nothing - else.

But, in any case, I'm left not knowing if the concept of the peltast is an example of the good old days - or the bad ones.

Word To Use Today: peltast. This word arrived in English in the 1600s. It comes from the Latin peltasta, from the Greek peltastēs, a soldier carrying a pelta, which is a small leather shield.

Peltate, by the way, describes a leaf where the stalk emerges from the centre of the underside.