Tie

Tie (pronounced tahy)

(1) A knot; a fastening.

(2) A knot of hair (as at the back of a wig).  (a tiewig is (1) a wig having a tie or ties, or one having some of the curls tied up or (2) a wig that is tied upon the head; a court-wig tied with ribbon at the back).

(3) A long narrow piece of material worn, most often by men, under the collar of a shirt, tied in a knot close to the throat with the ends hanging down the front.  Also called necktie (a bow tie is never truncated to tie).

(4) A lace-up she or boot, historically as Oxford ties, Derby ties etc (now a rare use).

(5) As “twist tie”, a piece of wire embedded in paper or a strip of plastic, wound around something (typically a bag, cable etc) and tightened to secure it.

(6) A connection between people (or groups of people) or between people and institutions, ideologies etc, especially a strong connection (familiar in the phrases “ties of friends”, “ties of allegiance”, “ties that bind” etc).

(7) In construction, any of various structural members (beams, rods, stringers etc) used to keep two objects (rafters; haunches of an arch etc), from spreading or separating.

(8) In rail track construction, any of a number of closely spaced transverse beams of concrete, metal or (historically and still mostly) wood, for holding the rails forming a track at the proper distance from each other and for transmitting train loads to the ballast and roadbed (in other places known as a “sleeper”).

(9) In sport and related competitions, the situation in which two or more participants in a competition are placed equally (known variously as a “draw” or stalemate”.  The exception is long-form cricket (test & first class) where a tie (both sides having the same total of runs when the last ball has been delivered) is distinct form a draw (neither side able to force a win).

(10) In sport and related competitions, a meeting between two players or teams in a competition (mostly UK & Commonwealth use).

(11) In music, a curved line connecting two notes of the same pitch denoting that they should be played as a single note with the combined length of both notes (distinct from a slur).

(12) In typography & phonetic transcription, a curved line connecting two letters (⁀), used in the IPA to denote a co-articulation, as for example /d͡ʒ/.

(13) In statistics, one or more equal values or sets of equal values in the data set.

(14) In surveying, a bearing and distance between a lot corner or point and a benchmark or iron off site; a measurement made to determine the position of a survey station with respect to a reference mark or other isolated point.

(15) In graph theory, a connection between two vertices.

(16) To bind, fasten, or attach with a cord, string, or the like, drawn together and knotted.

(17) To draw together the parts of with a knotted string or the like.

(18) To fasten, join, or connect in any way.

(19) To confine, restrict, or limit.

(20) To bind or oblige, as to do something.

Pre 900: From the Middle English teye, tiegh & tegh (cord, rope; chain) from the Old English tēag, tēah, tēagh and tēgh (cord; chain), from the Proto-West Germanic taugu, from the Proto-Germanic taugō, from the Old Norse taug (rope) & tygill, from the primitive Indo-European dewk- and ultimately from the from the prehistoric deuk (to pull, to lead).  It was cognate with the Danish tov.  The Middle English tien and the Old English tīgan (to tie) were both derivative of the noun and related to the Old Norse teygja (to draw, stretch out) and the Old English tēon (to pull).  Tie is a noun & verb, tying is a noun & verb, tied is a verb & adjective; the noun plural is ties.

The figurative sense dates from the 1550s and the adoption in the US to describe railway sleepers is from 1857.  The meaning "equality between competitors" was first noticed in the 1670s although the meaning “to finish equal to a competitor” seems not to have been formalized until the late 1880s.  The tie-breaker (a mechanism used to force a tied match to a win) was first mentioned in 1938 and is most familiar from tennis when it was first widely used in the early 1960s.  In mist forms of sport, the “tie” is interchangeable with “draw “ except in the four-innings cricket in which, apparently uniquely, four results are possible, win, lose, draw and the (rare) tie.  The sense of a “cravat’; necktie” (usually a simple one knotted in front) dates from 1761.  The idea of the bow tie (a necktie tied in the form of a bow or a knot with two loops) was familiar by 1887 although the earlier use in the sense “a ribbon or other fabric tied in a bow-knot) was in use in 1874.

In idiomatic use, to “tie the knot” means “to form a union” (usually marriage) dates from 1707.  To “Tie one on” (get drunk) was first recorded in 1944)" is recorded from 1944.  The phrase “old school tie” has been in use since 1938 and refers literally to the neckties worn by former students of a certain English public (private) schools and is used as an allusion to the way the class system is maintained.  The “tie-in” (a specific connection) was first documented in 1934 and was said to be from a verbal phrase noted since 1793.  The verb “hog-tie” was literally the most efficient way of securing a body (by binding the hands and feet by crossing and tying them) and was first documented (it’s unclear how long the technique had been in use) in 1887.  The verb tie-dye is associated with hippies and their spiritual descendants but the technique was first patented in 1902.  In telecommunications, a "tie-line" is a dedicated line between two extensions.  The origin was in the physical wire which once ran point-to-point ("tying" the two together), the classic example the cables run by the military in the trenches of World War I (1914-1918).  The term is still used to refer to dedicated private services but most are now part of distributed networks and implemented with a combination of physical switching and software.

The RSVP - What to wear

White Tie Dress Code.

White tie, also called full evening dress or a dress suit, is now the most formal evening dress code in western culture.  For men, it consists of a black tailcoat worn over a white starched shirt, Marcella waistcoat and a white bow tie worn around a detachable collar.  High-waisted black trousers and patent leather pumps complete the ensemble; decorations need not be worn unless specified, top hats and canes the only permitted accessories.   White scarves were once frequently seen but seem now frowned upon.  For women, it’s a full-length gown.  Optional is jewelry, a tiara, a small bag and evening gloves though with accessories, fashion critics urge restraint.

Although now the most elaborate western dress code, white tie is derived from the eighteenth century movement towards a less elaborate aesthetic of style and by the 1840s was de rigueur for the small fragment of the population who moved “in society circles”.  The two great events of the twentieth century, the world wars, rent social fissures which rendered white tie extinct for all but a handful of ceremonial and state occasions such as balls at some of the old universities and royal households.  The white tie belongs mostly to the lost, pre-1914 world although still required for the annual Nobel Prize ceremony.

Black Tie Dress Code.

Transcending class distinctions, black tie is a dress code for evening events and social functions.  It emerged and evolved during the late nineteenth century, was essentially codified by the 1920s and, for men, little changed since.  For men, the elements are a white dress shirt with black bow tie, an evening waistcoat or cummerbund, a dinner jacket in black or midnight blue and polished black shoes.  This setup is known in the US as a tuxedo and in France as cravate noire.  Black tie permits variations, lighter colored jackets, dating from hot climates of the Raj, are now not unusual but variations need still to be on the theme.

By contrast with the essentially static men’s code, women's dress for black tie has been subject to trends, both in fashion and social mores.  Traditionally it was evening shoes and ankle or lower-calf length (depending on the hour) sleeveless evening gown, often set-off by a wrap or stole and, almost inevitability, gloves.  In the twenty-first century, women are essentially free to construct whatever seems to suit the occasion, a gown, a cocktail dress, a LBD (little black dress), even trousers and boots; black tie for women is now post-modern and thus more concept than code.

Black tie invitation: Lindsay Lohan interprets.

Cravat

Cravat (pronounced kruh-vat)

(1) A cloth, usually of wool or silk and trimmed with lace, worn about the neck by men; especially popular in the seventeenth century.

(2) A decorative fabric band or scarf worn around the neck by women (obsolete).

(3) In modern use, a type of necktie worn by men, having long ends hanging in front, the most elaborate form of which is the “dress cravat”, “Ascot band” or “Ascot tie”.

(4) In medicine, a bandage made by folding a triangular piece of material into a band, used temporarily for a fracture or wound.

(5) As “hempen cravat” a euphemism for the hangman’s noose (hemp a fibre used to make rope.

1650-1660: From the French cravate, an appellative use of the French Cravate (Croat), from the Dutch Krawaat, from the German Krawatte, from the Serbo-Croatian/Хр̀ва̄т (Hr̀vāt) (Croat).  The name was adopted because the neck adornments were worn by Croatian mercenaries serving in the French army during the Thirty Years' War and was quickly absorbed into French fashion.  Cravat is a noun, cravatting is a verb and cravatted is an adjective (both verb & adjective are now rare); the noun plural is cravats.

Military influences in fashion are not unknown and cravats came into fashion in France in the mid-seventeenth century in imitation of linen scarves worn by the Crabats, formations of light cavalry forces which as mercenaries were attached to forces which fought on the side of the Catholic League in the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648).  The word cravates in French meant “Croatians” and the name in this context has come to be thought an ethnic label but in the narrow technical sense it was a generic designation of the light cavalry from the Hapsburg Military Frontier, which included Croats, Hungarians, Serbs, Wallachians, Poles, Cossacks and Tatars.

Methods of tying a cravat in eighteenth century France,

When first it came into use in French fashion, it was commonly made of lace & linen or muslin edged with lace, the long flowing ends tied in a variety of ways and it has evolved, the modern cravat more of a necktie, passed once round the neck, and tied in front in a bow although in popular culture one of the most popular depictions seems to be the style popular in the early-mid nineteenth century: a triangular silk kerchief (usually black), wrapped twice round the neck, in imitation of the stock; prior to that, starched linen cravats were worn by gentlemen (an those aspiring to be thought one) and a perfectly tied example was thought one of the markers of the class.  The cravat differs from the scarf which, whether tied, passed through a ring, or held by a pin, hangs down over the shirt front and in some ways is functionally similar to a muffler.

Like many of the symbols of civilizations associated with Europe, the cravat’s antecedents lie to the east, similar arrangements in cloth used as signifiers of high social status in both Ancient Egypt and China while in the art of the Rome of Antiquity, there are many depictions of jewels and other decorative constructions appearing around the neck which strikingly resemble the later cravats.  Throughout Europe too, a scarf around the neck was an old custom and part of the costumes of many European nations, worn in all climates although those in colder places were obviously thicker and often purely functional.  The tied scarf was well known as a visible part of national costumes in various Croatian provinces: In Omišalj it was the facol (which the Ancient Romans called the focale), in Baranja in the east it was the poša, and in the north the rubec.  Cultural anthropologists trace the earliest know reference to such garments in the region to the area surrounding of the village of Turopolje where they were known as podgutnica or podgutnjak.

The legend is that girls and women would give their scarves to boyfriends and husbands going to war and when tied around their necks, they represented ownership papers by which a man would display his loyalty.  This apparently did happen in some villages but seems not to have been a national tradition and quite how long a young man’s promise of fidelity lasted once the troops had marched isn’t known but the idea proved useful to military commanders who came to value a distinctive scarf as a way of distinguishing one soldier from another in the clatter of battle.  Europe being for centuries a blood-soaked place, the black and red colors of the Croatian scarfs became well-known on European battlefields because the Croats were highly-valued mercenaries in the Habsburg, Bavarian, Spanish, Danish and French armies, noted for their efficiency, innovations in tactic and tight discipline.  Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821), a fair judge of such things, said more than once “I never had more braver and better soldiers.  Croats, they are the best soldiers in the world.  If I had only 100,000 Croats, I would conquer the entire world!”

Chanel jacket with cravat.

At the time, the scarves worn by the military were called podgutnjak or podgutnica and mode of different materials ranging from the rough linen or wool items of ordinary soldiers, to the fine silk and cotton-wool of officers.  Whatever the construction, it quickly was adapted to become a functional piece of military kit which served purposes beyond identification because, attached to the neck by knot it also fulfilled the basic purpose of holding the rest of the clothes together, something vital in close combat.  Tied around the neck, it protected against cold and could be used to cover the lips, preventing dust from coming into his mouth while in the heat, it was protection from the sun and a rag with which to wipe away sweat.  Usefully too, the fabric protected a soldier’s neck from irritation, insect bites or scratches from rough military clothing (something which was quickly understood by fighter pilots in the Battle of Britain (1940) who soon discarded collars and ties for silk scarves) and for soldiers on horseback, silk in particular proved its worth in deflecting sabre strikes.  Finally, the scarf served also a tourniquet or field dressing.

Lindsay Lohan in Gucci Porcelain Garden Print Silk Gown featuring an all-over Dutch toile in blue and white with a high ruffled collar and bib, ruffles at the sleeve, pussy bow at the neck, and a blue and red patent belt at the high waist (Stg£4,040 (US$7,300)), One Family charity launch, Savoy Hotel, London, June 2017.  The cravat should not be confused with the pussy bow although visually, they can be similar.

The cavalry must have been a dashing sight because before the mid-seventeenth century the custom of the knotted scarf around the neck was unknown urban Europe and it was the acceptance and rapid adoption by the French court which lent the sartorial innovation the respectability needed for it to become a fashionable garment among the nobility.  They phrase at the time was a la Croate (in the Croatian way) which was the root of the French word cravate and such was the impression made that in 1643 a special regiment of Royal Cravates was formed, named after the Croats who were in its ranks, the first cravat officially presented in 1656.  Despite the military origins, the cravat eventually became a symbol of progress in France and during the French Revolution a black tie was worn as a sign of protest against backward, outdated ideas.  From there, although revolution was suppressed, the ties spread to the Belgians, the Dutch and the English and Charles II (1630–1685; King of Scotland 1649-1651, King of England, Scotland and Ireland 1660-1685), upon on his return from exile uttered the words “Bring me a tie or I shall die”.

Donald Trump (b 1946; US president 2017-2021) with Boris Johnson (b 1964; UK prime-minister 2019-2022) (left) & Benjamin Netanyahu (b 1949; Israeli prime-minister 1996-1999, 2009-2021 & probably soon again) (right).  Fashionistas derided Donald Trump for his extravagantly long ties; he ignored them and does seem to have influenced the easily-led.

After this, the cravat became a cult and eventually a tie (the word derived from “to tie a cravat”).  The English had first favored white but as technology made things possible, colors and patterns became popular but in the nineteenth century, it was the Americans who made the notable structural change of cutting the fabric in three parts, then sewing them together, the advantage being they became both cheaper to produce and easier to tie.  According to two researchers from the University of Cambridge, theoretically there are 85 possible ways to bind a standard tie knot, assuming the number of “moves” is limited to nine (and it’s a scandal no Ignoble Prize was won for determining this).  One particular interesting finding which emerged from the mathematical modeling was that of the seven-dozen odd, only ten knots corresponded to conventional symmetry although most used with the modern tie are symmetrical including the plain knot, the double knot, the small knot, the classic Windsor, the semi-Windsor, the Albert knot and the American knot.  One convention is that ties should not be too long, something more-or-less observed until Donald Trump decided to pay tribute to the codpiece.  Ties of late have fallen from favor in the west although the Japanese remain big buyers, the uniform of the salaryman apparently still a lure and for those who wish to mark the tradition, international cravat day (Hrvatska in Croatian) is celebrated annually on 18 October.

Portrait of Ivan Gundulić (Dživo Franov Gundulić or Gianfrancesco Gondola in the Italian) (1589-1638), circa 1622-1630, oil on canvas by an unknown artist.  The most prominent of the Baroque poets from the Republic of Ragusa (now in modern-day Croatia), Gundulić is regarded as the Croatian national poet and this portrait is the oldest known image of a man wearing a cravatte (cravat).

Noted Instagram influencer, German-born Ivana Knoll (b 1992) was a finalist in the Miss Croatia competition in 2016 and the best-known fan to appear at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, always attired in a variety of outfits using the Croatian national symbol of the red and white checkerboard, matching the home strip worn by the team.  Her outfits were much admired and she was a popular accessory sought by Qatari men for their selfies but she missed an opportunity by not including a checkered cravat which, if strategically tied to drape in just the right way, would have been most photogenic.

Lien

Lien (pronounced leen or lee-uhn)

(1) In law, the legal claim of one person upon the property of another person to secure the payment of a debt or satisfaction of an obligation; a right to retain possession of another's property pending discharge of a debt.

(2) In anatomy, a tendon (obsolete).

(3) An alternative form of lain (archaic, used in early translations of the Bible).

1525–1535: An Anglo-French borrowing from the Old French from the Latin ligāmen (bond; tie; bandage) from ligāre (to bind) and ligō (tie, bind), the construct being ligā(re) (to tie) + -men (the Latin noun suffix).  The Latin liēn (spleen) was borrowed by late medieval anatomists as a descriptor of tendons but is long obsolete.  The associated words used in this context include claim, charge, right, encumbrance, mortgage, incumbrance and hypothecation but not all translate literally (or by implication) between legal systems or jurisdictions.  Lien is a noun & verb and lienal & lienable are adjectives; the noun plural is liens.  Lien’s use as an alternative form of lain is a historic relic, now best-known from its use (with variation in spelling) in the King James Version of the Bible (KJV, 1611):

And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done vnto vs? one of the people might lightly haue lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest haue brought guiltinesse vpon vs.  (Genesis 26:10)

And the Priest shall charge her by an othe, and say vnto the woman, If no man haue lyen with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to vncleannesse with another in stead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse.  (Numbers 5:19)

The lien at common law, equity and admiralty law

At common law, a lien was a right to retain property in one’s possession until payment was made.  That basic right has in many jurisdictions since been modified but the principle remains of a security interest granted over physical property to secure the payment of a debt or discharge of some other obligation.  Historically, the owner of the property (grantee of the lien) was the lienee and the lien holder the lienor but, in modern use, these terms are less used.  An equitable lien differs from a common law lien in that the former depended on actual possession of physical property and conferred a right to retain the good(s) until payment, whereas an equitable lien existed regardless of the state of possession, conferring on the holder the right to seek judicial redress in the absence of payment.  Legal scholars have long treated equitable liens as a strange collective of property rights, considering them generally as sui generis (special; different; literally “of its own kind or class”.)

Equitable liens came to be created for same reason that much equity law developed: application of the rigid rules of common law, in certain situations, could give rise to injustice.  A common-law lien (1) confers only a right to retain physical property, (2) cannot be transferred, (3) cannot be asserted by third parties to whom possession of the property has been extended to pay or undertake whatever the original party should have performed and (4), if the property is handed to the lienor, the lien is for all time sundered.  In Hewett v Court (1983) 149 CLR 639, the High Court of Australia (HCA) defined the essential characteristics of an equitable lien.  It (1) arises by operation of law so as to do justice between parties by adjusting their mutual rights and interests, (2) is not contingent on any contractual right or interest, or by reason of possession of the property, (3) becomes apparent from the relationship between the parties, (4) constitutes an equitable charge over the property and (5), creates a right to obtain an order for payment.

The quirkiest flavor is the maritime lien (sometimes known as tacit hypothecation), a peculiarity of admiralty law.  It is a lien over a vessel, granted to secure the claim of a creditor who provided maritime services to the vessel or who suffered an injury from the vessel's use.  Something of an aquatic hybrid, it creates upon ships, security interests of a nature otherwise unknown to common law or equity, something explained by ships being (1) big, (2) expensive and (3) able to move from one jurisdiction to another.  The concept of a maritime lien is similar to that which can be imposed on any other real property in that it allows for a vessel to be seized if the relevant debt remains unpaid at the effective date.  So, were the purchaser of a vessel to fail to pay (or cease making payments as required by the contract of sale), the vessel may be seized by the authorities and depending on the jurisdiction, there can be other mechanisms such as is often the case in the US where if the contract of sale wasn’t executed using the device of a PSM (preferred ship mortgage), the lien can be granted without consent (ie it’s invoked automatically).

It can be arrested.

As a general principle, a maritime lien can be placed on any vessel still “in navigation”. Quite when a vessel can be considered “in navigation” or not is usually uncontroversial but courts have had sometimes been required to rule on the matter, often in personal injury cases.  The simple explanation is that a vessel is regarded as “in navigation” if it’s fit to operate; that means it could (physically and legally) be used on the waters as intended, not that it’s necessarily “being navigated” on a waterway”.  A vessel undergoing minor repairs would in many circumstances be judged capable of operating (even if it’s been static for some time) whereas one only partially constructed or undergoing a large-scale overhaul would not.  Counterintuitively, a vessel in a shipyard’s dry dock (ie not even “in the water”) can be held to be “in navigation” if found to be still “fit to sail”, the courts deciding each case on its merits, considering factors such as the duration, cost and nature of maintenance being performed and whether the vessel’s master or owner had taken any steps consistent with the vessel’s status being “out of service”.

It can also be arrested.

However, a maritime lien taken against a PSM must be recorded and in that it’s a unique type and in most jurisdictions the filing is with a central repository such as a maritime registry or its associated documentation centre.  Once registered in the correct form, the lien becomes valid and enforceable.  All other maritime liens come as a result of actions pursuant to contracts or in tort and these can cover just about anything transactional (unpaid freight or harbor charges, damages caused by the vessel (pollution, collisions with other vessels or shore facilities, loading or unloading events et al), unpaid wages, breach of charter, personal injury et al.  What makes a lien under admiralty law very different is in the mechanism of enforcement which can involve a court issuing an arrest warrant for the vessel, enabling seizure by the authorities.  This differs from a lien taken over a skyscraper which can be subject to many things if a lien is enforced but not arrest.  The reason for the difference is a skyscraper can’t sail out of a jurisdiction and the act of arrest is thus redundant.  In the same way a corporation can, as a “legal fiction” be thought a “person”, so can a ship be “arrested”.  Like a lien upon landed structures, in legal theory size doesn’t matter and a court can order the arrest of the smallest dinghy but the orders are usually made against vessels of high-value.

Bride

Bride (pronounced brahyd)

(1) A woman on her wedding day, both before and after the ceremony of marriage.

(2) In needlework, a connection consisting of a thread or a number of threads for joining various solid parts of a design in needlepoint lace (also called a bar, leg or tie).

(3) An ornamental string used to tie a bonnet.

(4) Figuratively, an object ardently loved (obsolete).

(5) In theology, an expression to describe a woman who has devoted her life to some calling (eg “a bride of Christ”) which precludes marriage.

Pre 1000: From the Middle English bride, from the Old English brȳd (bride, betrothed or newly married woman), from the Proto-Germanic brūdiz (bride; woman being married).  It was cognate with the Old High German brūt, the Old Norse brūthr, the Gothic brūths (daughter-in-law), the Saterland Frisian breid & bräid (bride), the West Frisian breid (bride), the German & Low German Bruut (bride), the Dutch bruid (bride), the German Braut (bride), the Danish brud (bride), the Swedish brud (bride).  The use to describe the bonnet tie dates from 1865-1870, from the French bride (bonnet-string (literally “bridle”)), from the Middle French bride, from the Old French bride (rein, bridle), from the Middle High German brīdel (rein, bridle), from the Old High German brīdil (rein, bridle) and related to the Old High German brittil (rein, strap) and the French bretelle (from the Proto-Germanic brigdilaz (bridle)), the Spanish brida and the Italian briglia.  Restricted almost exclusively to needlework, the present participle is briding and the past participle brided; the noun plural is brides.  The spellings brid, bryd, bryde & brude persisted in English but are all long obsolete.

Lindsay Lohan in costume as a bride for an episode of the TV series Two Broke Girls, 2014.  It was in June 2022 confirmed that Lindsay Lohan had married Bader Shammas who works for Credit Suisse, the couple based in Dubai.  Describing herself as the "...luckiest woman in the world", she added she was "...stunned that this is my husband. My life and my everything.  Every woman should feel like this every day".  Although the details haven't be finalized, it seems that to mark the event, there will be a ceremony in the United States.

The Gothic cognate bruþs meant "daughter-in-law" and the form of the word borrowed from the Old High German into Medieval Latin (bruta) and Old French (bruy) had only this sense.  In ancient Indo-European custom, a married woman would live with husband's family so the only "newly wedded” female in such a household would have been the daughter-in-law.  In a similar structralist analysis, some etymologists linked the word to the primitive Indo-European verbal root bhreu-, from which are derived words for cooking and brewing, the basis for this the (not wholly unfounded) speculation that such would be the household tasks of the daughter-in-law job.  In what may be a similar vein was the Old Frisian fletieve (bride (but literally "house-gift”)) but it may have been used in the sense of welcoming a new family member rather noting the addition of an economic unit.

In praise of older men

Wedding day of actors Johnny Depp (b 1963) and Amber Heard (b 1986), Bahamas, 2015.  Ms Heard filed for divorce in May 2016.

The noun bridesmaid (young girl or unmarried woman who attends on a bride at her wedding) began in the 1550s as the construct bridemaid (bride + maid). The interpolated “s” is thought un-etymological but emerged in the late eighteenth century and in succeeding decades became the standard form, the “s” presumably indicating a possessive although it may have evolved simply because that’s how the word had come to be pronounced; bridemaid & bridemaids less kind to the tongue.  A bridesman was in the early nineteenth century a "male attendant on a bridegroom at his wedding" although the modern practice is for a groom to be attended by a best man and several groomsmen, matching the bride’s entourage of a maid or matron of honor (the difference being a maid of honor is unmarried while a matron of honor (even if for whatever reason legally single) has already had a wedding of her own (and matron of honor supplanted the earlier bridematron)) and bridesmaids.  Done properly, the numbers should align; the maid of honor and best man acting as chiefs of staff; the groomsmen and bridesmaids paired-off for ceremonial purposes.

Wedding day of Rupert Murdoch (b 1931) and Jerry Hall (1956), London, 2016.  It was recently announced the couple are to divorce.

Brideman & bridegroom (man newly married or about to be) date from the early seventeenth century although the short form groom later prevailed.  The noun bridegroom was from the Old English brydguma (suitor), the construct being from bryd (bride) + guma (man (though also used to mean “boy”)), from the Proto-Germanic gumon- (source also of the Old Norse gumi and the Old High German gomo), literally "an earthling, an earthly being" (as opposed to “of the gods”), from a suffixed form of the primitive Indo-European root dhghem- (earth).  In the sixteenth century, the ending was altered by folk etymology, the noun groom (boy, lad) preferred, a hint at the youthfulness which then characterized marriage.  Bridegroom was also a common compound in Germanic languages including the Old Saxon brudigumo, the Old Norse bruðgumi, the Old High German brutigomo and the German Bräutigam.  However, in Gothic, it was bruþsfaþs, literally "bride's lord", the possessive sense of which presumably worked either way depending on the dynamics of the marriage.

The phrase “give away the bride”, whereby the father of the bride “gives away” his daughter to the groom persists and seems, surprisingly, to have escaped serious feminist criticism; perhaps they really are romantics at heart.  The meaning was once literal in that at common law, the bride and all her worldly goods (save for her paraphernalia) passed upon marriage to her husband as real property or mere chattels, the legal significance of “give away” being that the father’s ownership of daughter and goods was at that point unconditionally sundered.  Legislative reform has done away with all that but the ceremonial tradition endures, as does the phrase “always a bridesmaid, never a bride” a lament for one for whom spinsterhood seems a fate.  Other constructions include "war bride" (which can mean either a woman who marries someone going away to war or one who marries (in a variety of circumstances) during a conflict and “bride of the sea” “bride of the fields” etc, on the model of “bride of Christ” and suggesting an exclusive attachment to something or (more commonly) the idea of sharing the attention of a husband with their vocation (seafaring, farming etc).

Wedding day of Boris Johnson (b 1964) and Carrie Symonds (b 1988), London 2021.  Although it was his third marriage, Mr Johnson was married by the Roman Catholic Church, the ceremony conducted at no less than Westminster Cathedral.  Although a  baptized Catholic, the history meant a few eyebrows were raised but under canon law, it was an uncontroversial matter, both previous marriages invalid by reason of lack of canonical form.  The wedding was private but a ceremony of some description has been planned for Chequers in September 2022, the country house of the prime-minister in Buckinghamshire, the invitations said to have been posted before the events of early July which compelled Mr Johnson to announce he'd be leaving office "when the party has elected a successor".  Chequers in early autumn sounds a charming place for a party so it's hoped the Tories don't too quickly find their next leader.  

A “bride price” was money or other valuables paid in some cultures by a bridegroom or on his behalf) to the family of the bride.  Technically, it was the same idea the dowry (from the Middle English dowarye & dowerie, from the Anglo-Norman dowarie & douarie, from the Old French douaire, from the Medieval Latin dōtārium, from the Classical Latin dōs (from the Proto-Italic dōtis, from the primitive Indo-European déh₃tis, from deh₃- (give) and a doublet of dosis.  It was cognate with the Ancient Greek δόσις (dósis) & the Sanskrit दिति (díti)) and was paid to the family of the groom although dowry became a generalized term for the transaction irrespective of the direction.  In some cultures the dowry remains an important component of the structure of society although the practice is not free from controversy.

Remembering the laughter: Bill Clinton (b 1946) and crooked Hillary Clinton (b 1947) at the wedding of Donald Trump (b 1946) and Melanija Knavs (b 1970), Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida, 2005.

The adjective bridal (belonging to a bride or a wedding) appeared circa 1200, derived from the noun bridal (wedding feast), from the Old English brydealo (marriage feast), from bryd ealu, (literally "bride ale"), the evolution an example of an imperfect echoic, the second element later (especially after circa 1600) confused with the adjectival suffix –al.  Similar forms were the mid thirteenth century Middle English scythe-ale (drinking celebration for mowers, as compensation for a particular job) and constructions in a similar vein in Scotland.  The first bridal-suite was advertised in 1857, offered as part of a package deal when hiring a venue for a wedding reception.

Cutting the cake: Silvio Berlusconi (b 1936) and Marta Fascina (b 1990) at their "symbolic" wedding ceremony, Lesmo, Italy, March 1922.

Wedding planners estimated Mr Berlusconi's "symbolic" wedding would have cost some €400,000 (US$415,000) the bride's lace gown by Antonio Riva said to have absorbed some 5% of the budget.  Although it certainly looked like a wedding, it actually had no status before Church or state, apparently because of what was described as "an inheritance row between the families" a reference to objections said to have been raised by the groom's five adult children, concerned by the possibility Ms Fascina might gain a right of claim against the 85-year-old's reputed billions of Euros.  The reception was held over lunch at the Da Vittorio restaurant, the menu including veal mondeghili with lemon, ricotta gnocchi and potatoes with saffron and paccheri 'alla Vittorio' as well as sliced ​​beef in red wine with dark potato and cinnamon flavored carrot cream, the entertainment provided by Mr Berlusconi himself who reprised his early career as a cruise ship singer, accompanied by a friend on piano.

Although not verified, reports in the Italian press suggested the "bride" was "offended and very angry about not having a proper wedding", having already had his initials tattooed somewhere (undisclosed).  Mr Berlusconi seemed however delighted with what had been styled a "festival of love" rather than a wedding, telling Ms Fascina she was "a gift from the heavens" and that "You complete me, I couldn't live without you, you fill my life".

Bandage

Bandage (pronounced ban-dij)

(1) A strip of soft cloth or other material used to bind up a wound, sore, sprain etc, or as a protective compression device to prevent or limit injury.

(2) Anything used as a band or ligature.

(3) To bind or cover with a bandage; to put a bandage on a wound, sprain etc, or as a protective compression device to prevent or limit injury.

(4) In fashion, a type of dress, distinguished from similar styles by the use of knitted fabrics.

(5) Figuratively, by extension, a provisional or makeshift solution that provides insufficient coverage or relief (also as band-aid solution).

1590-1600: From the Middle English bandage (strip of soft cloth or other material used in binding wounds, stopping bleeding etc), from the sixteenth century French bandage, from the Old French bander (to bind), from bande (a strip).  The verb bandage (to dress a wound etc, with a bandage) dates from 1734 (and was implied in bandaging).  Bandage is the spelling in Danish, Dutch, German, English & Swedish but other languages localized the French including Norwegian Bokmål (bandasje) Polish (bandaż) & Turkish (bandaj).  The spelling in the constructed Esperanto is bandaĝo.  Bandage is a noun, verb & adjective, bandaged & bandaging are verbs (used with & without an object) and the noun bandager does exist although use seems restricted to first-aid manuals.  Other words used in similar vein include dressing, gauze, plaster, swathe, truss, compress, bind & wrap.  The noun plural is bandages.

The noun compress, (in the surgical sense of "soft mass of linen or other cloth to press against some part of the body (with the aid of a bandage)”), as an adaptation from the earlier verb, evolved in the 1590s in parallel with bandage.  In earlier use, the noun ligament (band of tough tissue binding bones) was a late fourteenth century creation from the Latin ligamentum (a band, bandage, tie, ligature), from ligare (to bind, tie), from the primitive Indo-European root leig- (to tie, bind) and in the medical literature, ligamental, ligamentous & ligamentary still occasionally appear.  One technical term from medicine which seems extinct is the verb deligate (to bind up, bandage), noted since 1840 (and implied in deligated), from the Latin deligatus (bound fast), from deligare (to bind fast), the construct being de- (from the Latin dē-, from the preposition dē (of, from); the Old English æf- was a similar prefix) + ligare (to bind).  Under the Raj, the noun puttee (long strip of cloth wound round the lower leg as protection by soldiers) enjoyed a evolution in spelling typical of many words in British India, patawa in 1875, puttie by 1886 and the modern puttee finally (more or less) standardized by 1900).  The source was the Hindi patti (band, bandage) from the Sanskrit pattah (strip of cloth).  The noun fascia did have a brief career in medicine, being from the Latin fascia (a band, bandage, swathe, ribbon), derivative of fascis (bundle (which as fasces became a familiar form in the twentieth century)).  In English, the original use was in architecture, the anatomical application not noted until 1788 and it’s now also a familiar form in botany, music, astronomy and interior design, most obviously in cars.  The noun bandeau (headband), now much associated with revolutionaries (and in fashion the emulation) dates from 1706, from the French bandeau, from the twelfth century Old French bandel & bendel (bandage, binding), a diminutive of bande (a band, a strip).  As a style of women's top or bra, it was first described in 1968 and is distinguished from similar styles in being of a rectangular cut, the hems forming two horizontal lines above and below the breasts.

The bandage dress

Although the motif of what is called the bandage dress is clearly identifiable in depictions of women which pre-date antiquity, the creation of the modern commercial product is credited to the 1980s work of Tunisian couturier Azzedine Alaïa (1935-2017) but it is with French designer Hervé Peugnet’s (1957–2017) fashion house Hervé Léger that the style is now most associated.

Charlotte McKinney (b 1993), 2018.

The bandage dress is a specific interpretation of the earlier, figure-hugging bodycon dress, the name originally a contraction of "body conscious" which the industry would later morph into "body confidence" in reaction to criticism and in Japan, they were marketed as ボディコン (bodikon), a spelling better suited to traditional pronunciation in Japanese.  What distinguished bandage from bodycon was the fabric, the former made not with anything woven, engineered instead to compress with machine-knitted material, the completed panels left uncut and assembled to created the finished item.  Bandage dresses thus, although truly suitable for only one body type, because of the compression effect of the knitted fabric, do (slightly) extend the parameters of the silhouette which can be accommodated while still being aesthetically successful whereas bodycon dresses made from fabrics which merely cling rather than smooth out imperfections rely on an ideally formed frame.  For that reason, the jocular slang “body compression” was sometimes used to describe this sub-set of the bodycon, the bandage dress working like externally worn shapewear, corset-like in effect if not quite an actual exoskeleton.

Lindsay Lohan (b 1986), 2008.

Hervé Léger in 1992 first displayed the bandage dresses which would come to be the style’s definitive look; instantly popular, they were a red-carpet staple well into the twenty-first century.  Still a big seller, the bandage dress in 2015 migrated, via the twittersphere, from the fashion section to the front page when the comments of Patrick Couderc (b 1961, then managing director of Hervé Léger's British distributor, MJH Fashion), were published.  In an interview with the Daily Mail on Sunday, Mr Couderc made it clear he’d prefer it if some women would avoid buying Hervé Léger’s most famous creation, those on the proscribed list including lesbians, those beyond a certain age and anyone with a less than ideal silhouette.

There was an element of classism too in his critique as he lamented the bandage dress as a victim of its own success, too many now seen on the wrong-shaped customers and worse still, they were often cheap knock-offs of the £1,300 (US$1603) originals and thus increasingly associated with reality TV stars and those working in hair salons.  Admitting dryly “you can be a victim of your success”, his comments seemed to echo those reported earlier in the century by the distributers of a high-end cognac and the Maybach, Daimler-Benz’s ill-fated mistake in thinking what was needed was a brand above Mercedes-Benz which for almost a century had been good enough for presidents, popes and potentates.  Then the complaint had been that drink and car were finding favor with hip-hop & rap stars and this most interpreted as an expression of concern the association with people of color might “cheapen the brand”.  Mr Couderc didn’t comment on skin color but told The Mail he refuses to give free dresses to celebrities if they are “judged to lack sufficient class”.

Clearly a student of the interplay of sociology and economics, he allowed his mind to wander wide, recalling that he’d “...never go out to dinner if she’s not wearing tights.  I think hosiery is something which is very magical in my world and I’m veering off into complete poetry now.  But it’s a social statement because in the 1980s, the difference between someone who was wearing tights and someone who was not was very significant.”  Clearly nostalgic for a time when the poor were less inclined to get ideas above their station, he added that then, “...whoever was wearing tights was working in a private office in a bank in St James’s and whoever was not wearing tights was coming to work as a shampooist in a High Street hairdresser, commuting from Croydon.  We were living in a time where the distinction between the two social strata was much more significant than today”.  How he must long for that vanished, pre-1945 world, when folk from Croydon were deferential to their betters.

Salma Hayek (b 1966), 1998.

The attitude was hardly unique in the industry, Abercrombie & Fitch early in the century re-built into a highly profitable company using a model former CEO Mike Jeffries (b circa 1944) described in a 2006 interview as “exclusionary” noting their clothes were a product in which “a lot of people don’t belong and they can’t belong.”  That really wasn’t an unusual business model but it was rare for a CEO so bluntly to state the obvious and, when the comments were published in 2013, Jeffries issued a apology saying "We are completely opposed to any discrimination, bullying, derogatory characterizations or other anti-social behavior based on race, gender, body type or other individual characteristics".  Also controversial was a later comment, attributed in 2013 to (an unnamed) Abercrombie and Fitch district manager.  It’s said the person being interviewed requested anonymity so the statements have never been verified but it was reported that when asked how the company responds to non-profits asking for donations of discontinued clothing to be given to the poor and homeless, the reply was “Abercrombie and Fitch doesn’t want to create the image that just anybody, poor people, can wear their clothing. Only people of a certain stature are able to purchase and wear the company name”, to which he added they would rather “burn the clothes” than risk them being seen on the backs of the poor.  Again, while rarely discussed, the practice of destroying rather than discounting or giving away unsold or discontinued items is widespread in the industry.

Speaking at Hervé Léger’s boutique in Knightsbridge, Central London, the like-minded Mr Couderc wasn’t entirely lacking in empathy, noting “You women have a lot of problems. You will lose the plot.  You will come and you will put a dress on and you’ll be in front of the mirror, like, ‘Argh, I’m so fat’”.  “Yes, you have a 12th of an inch around your stomach, it’s not really a disaster, and what you’re not noticing is that your cleavage is about two inches too low because you are 55 and it’s time that you should not display everything like you’re 23.”  At this point he did concede the particular virtue of the bandage dress was it could in such cases “provide useful support” but that didn’t mean he approved.

How a Hervé Léger bandage dress should hang.

He’d clearly thought about things, his advice to lesbians (presumably young or old) that “if you’re a committed lesbian and you are wearing trousers all your life, you won’t want to buy a Léger dress.  Lesbians would want to be rather butch and leisurely.”  Warming to the topic, he went on to say “voluptuous” women (most drawing the inference he meant "not slender") and those with “very prominent hips and a very flat chest” should wear something else, adding the handy hint that women must not wear underwear that was too small, because “the knicker line cuts through the flesh and goes through the other side of the dress” thereby creating the dreaded “visible panty line” (VPL).

Hervé Léger’s Moscow store.

Quite what he thought the reaction to his comments would be isn’t recorded but while his views may not much have changed since the 1980s, much of the rest of the world now has the means to respond en masse and what should have been the foreseen twitterstorm quickly gathered, #boycottherveleger & #wecanwearwhateverthefuckwewant soon trending.  Doubtlessly fearing the wrath of blood-thirsty lesbians, those not slender, chav shampooists and women of a certain age, Max Azria’s BCBGMAXAZRIA Group (which in 1998 had acquired Hervé Léger), went immediately into crisis management mode, issuing a statement saying they were “...shocked and appalled by Patrick Couderc’s comments made in the Mail on Sunday.  BCBGMAXAZRIA Group is working in concert with MJH Fashion, the London-based licensee of the Herve Leger brand, to investigate and establish appropriate next steps. The statements made by Mr. Couderc are not a reflection of Herve Leger by Max Azria or MJH Fashion ideals or sentiments.”  The Herve Leger by Max Azria brand celebrates sensuality, glamour and femininity without discrimination.”

Less than twenty-four hours later, MJH Fashion confirmed Mr Couderc was no longer employed by the company.  Max Azria (1949–2019) in 2016 ended his connection with BCBGMAXAZRIA and its associated companies and in 2017 the group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the intellectual property rights and assets later acquired by the Marquee Brands division of the Global Brands Group.  Bandage dresses remain popular.