What are trousers? This is an item of men's wardrobe that protects the lower body, including each leg separately, from the cold, and covers the legs almost completely. As a fixer of trousers on the body, various auxiliary means are used, for example, straps, suspenders, buttons. When did this common piece of clothing appear? What is the story behind the name of this piece of clothing? You will learn about this from our article.
Eurasia and Ancient Russia
On the continent of Eurasia, the first pants firmly entered the wardrobe of the Scythians, Persians, Germans and Huns. Why is this noun only used in the plural? Initially, each leg was a separate piece of fabric, they were not connected to each other.
What are trousers? These are the same pants that were worn in Ancient Russia in the ninth century. Initially, this piece of clothing was called ports, later - trousers. The more familiar word "trousers" appeared in the everyday life of the inhabitants of ancient Russia after a whole century. There were such synonyms for the word "pants" as underpants, trousers, underwear. The word "trousers" was used (andused now in military use) exclusively in Ancient Russia.
Ancient Rome and the Ancient East
Initially, in ancient Rome, pants were considered a piece of clothing inherent only to barbarians, but during protracted wars, they firmly entered the everyday life of legionnaires, and then moved into the wardrobe of the rest of the Romans. The trousers of the time were more like shorts, as short trousers were invisible under traditional Roman clothing.
In the Ancient East, pants were worn by both men and women. At that time, women's pants served as underwear, and their absence under clothes was considered simply indecent.
Ancient China and Ancient Japan
As in ancient Rome, in ancient China the word "trousers" was strongly associated with barbarians, but since China had its own cavalry regiment, completely dressed in pants, the latter have gained incredible popularity among the Chinese people. Women wore pants not only as underwear, like women of the Ancient East and Ancient Asia, but also as an independent item of clothing, which often replaced the skirt customary for those times.
In Japan in the Middle Ages, pants were a luxury item. They were called hakama, they could only be worn by representatives of the upper classes. Commoners wore a loincloth, since they were forbidden to wear the article of clothing they were studying. Seeing a commoner in pants was only possible at one's own wedding. Trousers were often worn by Japanese samurai and members of the Japanese aristocracy.
