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far·thin·gale

(färthĭn-gāl′, -thĭng-)

A support, such as a hoop, worn beneath a skirt to extend it horizontally from the waist, used by European women in the 1500s and 1600s.

[Alteration of obsolete verdynggale, from obsolete French verdugale, from Old Spanish verdugado, from verdugo, stick, shoot of a tree, from verde, green, from Latin viridis, from virēre, to be green.]

(click for a larger image)

farthingale

portrait of Queen Margaret of Austria (1584-1611) by Juan Pantajo de la Cruz (1553-1608)

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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