Where does “straitjacket” come from?
Straitjacket comes from English strait and jacket, where jacket derives from Middle French jacquet, Old French jaque, and ultimately Latin stringere meaning to bind tightly.
straitjacket (English): A jacket-like garment with very long sleeves...
Definitions
- A jacket-like garment with very long sleeves...
Ancestry of “straitjacket”, step by step
straitjacket traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English strait
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | strait | Narrow; restricted as to space or room; close;... |
| 2 | Italian | stretto | narrow; tight; strict |
| 3 | Spanish | estrecho | narrow; tight; close, kin |
| 4 | Old Spanish | estrecho | narrow |
| 5 | Latin | strictus | tightened, compressed, having been tightened;... |
| 6 | Latin | stringere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 7 | Latin | stringo | I press, tighten, compress; I unsheath |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | stringō | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | streyg- | to strike; to shear |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)ter- | strong, firm, stiff, rigid; rigid, stiff; to... |