![\"Goat](\"http:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/blog\/goat.jpg\")
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The Swedish lessons I’ve been working through recently include clothing vocabulary, such as byxor<\/em> (trousers), halsduk<\/em> (scarf) handskar<\/em> (gloves), vantar<\/em> (mittens) and st\u00f6vlar<\/em> (boots).<\/p>\n I thought I’d look into the origins of these words to help me remember them.<\/p>\n Byxor<\/strong> (trousers (UK) pants (US)) is the plural of byxa<\/em>, which comes from the Middle Low German buxe<\/em>, from buck<\/em> (buck, male goat) & hose<\/em> (trousers), originally referring to goatskin trousers. It is related to the Icelandic buxur<\/em> (trousers) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n Halsduk<\/strong> (scarf, muffler, shawl) comes from hals<\/em> (neck) and duk<\/em> (tablecloth) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n Handskar<\/strong> (gloves) is the plural of handske<\/em>, which comes from the Old Norse hanzki<\/em> (glove), from Middle Low German hantsche<\/em>, a colloquial form of hantscho<\/em> (glove, gauntlet) from Old Saxon handsko<\/em> (gauntlet, glove), from hand<\/em> (hand) and sko<\/em> (shoe) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n Related expressions include:<\/p>\n – handskmakare = glove maker Vantar<\/strong> (mittens) is the plural of vante<\/em> (mitten, glove), which comes from the Old Swedish wante<\/em>, from Old Norse v\u01ebttr<\/em> (glove, mitten), from Proto-Germanic *wantuz<\/em> (glove, mitten), from Proto-Indo-European *wond\u02b0n\u00fa-<\/em> (glove), from Proto-Indo-European *wend\u02b0-<\/em> (to wind, wrap). [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n The PIE *wend\u02b0-<\/em> is also the root of the English words to wander, to wend, went and wand.<\/p>\n St\u00f6vlar<\/strong> (boots) is the plural of st\u00f6vel<\/em>, which comes from the Old Swedish st\u00f8vel<\/em> (boot), from the Old Norse styfill<\/em>, from Middle Low German stevele \/ stovele<\/em>, from Italian stivale<\/em> (boot), from Medieval Latin aestivale<\/em> (summerly), from the Latin aest\u0101s<\/em> (summer) [source<\/a>].<\/p>\n Another word for boot is k\u00e4nga<\/strong>, which can also refer to a heavy shoe or kick, and comes from the Finnish kenk\u00e4<\/em> (boot, shoe), from Proto-Finnic *kenk\u00e4<\/em> (shoe) [source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n You can see more Swedish words for clothes on IE Languages<\/a>. <\/p>\n
\n– handskas med = to treat, deal with, handle<\/p>\n