Gabardine (pronounced gab-er-deen or gab-ah-deen)
(1) A firm, tightly woven fabric of worsted, cotton,
polyester, or other fiber, with a twill weave.
(2) An ankle-length loose coat or frock worn by men, associated
especially with Jews, in the medieval period.
(3) In casual use, any of various other garments made of
gabardine, once associated especially with raincoats worn by children (mostly
archaic).
1510–1520: The spelling gabardine is a variant spelling of gaberdine, almost certainly from the Old French gauvardine & gallevardine (a long, loose outer garments much associated with pilgrims), from the Middle High German wallewart (pilgrimage (Wallfahrt in the German)), from the Spanish gabardina, possibly a conflation of gabán (from the Arabic qabā (men’s over-garment) and tabardina (diminutive of tabard or tabard (a sleeveless jerkin consisting only of front and back pieces with a hole for the head))). The construct of the German Walfahrt was the Proto-Germanic wal- (source also of Old High German wallon (to roam, wander, go on a pilgrimage) + the Proto-Germanic faran (to go), from the primitive Indo-European per- (to lead, pass over). The evolution of the word in Spanish was probably influenced by the Spanish gabán (overcoat) & tabardina (coarse coat) although the alternative etymology suggest it was an extended form of gabán and the Spanish word was borrowed and underwent alterations in Old French. Gaberdine was documented from the 1510s while gabardine in the sense of "dress, covering" dates from the 1590s. The meaning "closely woven cloth" dates from 1904 and the tightly woven fabric remains popular with designers for suits, pants, jackets, summer wear and especially overcoats. Originally made from worsted wool, the twill weave fabric is now often rendered with synthetic and cotton blends and is renowned for its versatility and durability.
Lindsay Lohan, in Ami three button jacket and flare-fit trousers in wool gabardine with Ami small Deja-Vu bag, Interview Magazine, November 2022. The car is a Jaguar XJS (1975-1996) convertible. Jaguar didn't offer full convertible coachwork until 1988 but under contract, between 1986-1988, the Ohio-based coachbuilders Hess & Eisenhardt converted some 2000 coupés. Unlike many out-sourced conversions, the Hess & Eisenhardt cars were in some ways more accomplished than the factory's own effort, the top folding completely into the body structure (al la the Mercedes-Benz R107 (1971-1989) or the Triumph Stag (1969-1977)). However, to achieve that, the fuel tank had to be removed, replaced by twin tanks and this necessitated duplicated plumbing and pumps, something which sometimes proved troublesome. There were reports of fires but the tale Jaguar arranged buy-backs so they might be consigned to the crusher is an internet myth.
The diary (The Struggle for Survival 1940-1965) entry of Winston Churchill’s (1875-1965; UK prime-minister 1940-1945 & 1951-1955) physician (Sir Charles Wilson (Lord Moran); 1882-1977)) for 6 August 1942 records that in Cairo, there were some two-thousand, apparently unproductive, British Army officers who wore a very smart uniform called a gabardine and that in the slang of other units, they were called “the gabardine swine”.
The play on words is based on the New Testament tale of the Miracle of the Gadarene Swine, referred to sometimes in academic writing as the exorcism of the Gerasene demoniac. The miracle performed by Christ is the driving from a man demons which are allowed to take refuge in a herd of swine which then run down a slope into a lake where they drown. The miracle is recounted in the three Synoptic (Matthew, Mark & Luke) Gospels, but not in that of John. Matthew’s (8:28–34) account is short and differs in detail from Mark (5:1–20) & Luke (8:26–39), both of which include narrative descriptions which have informed the exorcism rites of the church ever since and the story has since Augustine attracted theologians and scholars who have found layers to interpret and it’s the origin too of the English proverbial word gadarene which describes or cautions against a “headlong or potentially disastrous rush to do something". The Biblical reference to Gadarene is geographical although it’s uncertain exactly where the events transpired.
In philosophy, the Gadarene Swine Fallacy (GSF) is the logical fallacy of supposing (1) because a group is in the right formation, it is therefore on the right course or (2) supposing that because an individual has strayed from the group and isn't in formation, that they are off course. The point of the GSF is that regardless of the vantage point from which a thing is viewed, mere appearances do not of necessity contain sufficient information accurately to convey what is right or wrong. Moral theologians, legal theorists and others have been both satisfied and troubled by the miracle. Saint Augustine's (354–430) immensely influential view was the story illustrated the special status God granted to man in the universe; that Christians have no obligations to God's other creatures, Jesus sacrificing two thousand swine to save the soul of one man and had it been a herd of ten-thousand he'd have seen them drowned too. Augustine didn’t discuss the supposed right of Jesus to send to their death a large herd of pigs presumably the property of another who may have relied on them to feed and care for his family but this has since been discussed.
The Christian position must be that Christ is a Divine Being and therefore sovereign over the entire creation; the world is his dominion: “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10). That includes pigs and his actions gained the approbation (Mark 5:20) of those who watched the exorcism for they “marveled” (although they also asked him to leave town, the reasons for that of some theological dispute). Technically too, Jesus could have quoted the Old Testament prohibitions of Leviticus who, among his list of abominations condemned swine as “unclean” (Leviticus 11) and thus fit for little but death by demonic possession. Leviticus and Christ would also have agreed that whatever value some might place on the heads of two-thousand swine, it is nothing compared to the worth of one human soul.
Even before animal rights activism became main-stream, the orthodox Augustinian view (and those of the neo-Augustinian apologists) had been criticized. The hardly impartial atheist Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) discussed the miracle in Why I am Not a Christian (1927), finding it appalling that someone omnipotent and therefore presumably able just to cast the demons into oblivion chose instead to kill two-thousand pigs. Modern activists Like Tash Petersen would doubtless be harsher still in their judgement than Lord Russell.
In the centre of this miniature removed from a Gospel book, Jesus and his followers confront two men whose half-dressed, unkempt state suggest they are possessed by evil demons. Jesus performs an exorcism, transferring the demons into a herd of swine. Matthew wrote that the herd "ran violently down a steep place into the sea," where "they perished in the waters". The illuminator closely followed the story as Matthew described it, depicting the swine hurtling down the cliff into the sea at the bottom of the page. At the top right, shepherds run to the city to report the miracle. In the work, the events are arranged in three horizontal bands, the main focus on the middle figures whose emphatic gestures and tense body movements recount the vivid story.
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