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‹Better GutenbergGerman compositionSection 95 — Anglo⁠-Saxon Dress · 100 of 257Contents›

German composition

by Hermann Lange

100 of 257 · Contents · Download EPUB

Section 95 Anglo⁠-Saxon Dress1

The dress of civilians in general consisted⁠2 of a shirt and tunic descending⁠3 to the knee, of linen or wool, according⁠4 to the season. A belt was often worn round the waist⁠5, and a short cloak over the whole. Drawers, leather shoes or short boots and hose, or sandals, completed the ordinary costume. Labourers (S. 3, N. 2) are generally represented with shoes, but without hose. Females⁠6 of all ranks⁠7 wore long, loose garments reaching⁠3 to the ground, completely hiding (S. 16, N. 4) all⁠8 symmetry of⁠9 shape. Long hair, parted⁠10 on the forehead, and falling⁠11 naturally down the shoulders, with an ample⁠12 beard and moustache, distinguish the Anglo-Saxons from the closely cropped⁠13 Normans. Planche remarks that⁠14 the character of face, as delineated in illuminations, immediately designates⁠15 the age⁠16 wherein⁠17 the early⁠18 portraits of our Lord⁠19, which have⁠20 been reverently⁠21 copied to⁠22 the present day, were⁠23 originally fabricated.—Milner, History of England.

Notes

1 Say ‘The dress of the Anglo-Saxons’.

2 to consist of a thing, aus etwas bestehen.

3 to descend = to reach; to, an or auf. Use the attributive construction explained in S. 48, N. 6.

4 according to, je nach.

5 waist = body.

6 Females = Women.

7 Stand, m.

8 jede.

9 Use the gen. of the def. art.; form, Gestalt, f.

10 gescheitelt; on the forehead = in the middle. Use the attributive construction.

11 and falling = which fell.

12 voll.

13 kurz geschoren.

14 that — illuminations, daß der Gesichtstypus in den Abbildungen.

15 bestimmen.

16 Zeitalter, m., i.e. epoch.

17 wherein = in which.

18 ‘early’, here = first.

19 Lord = Saviour, Heiland, m.

20 Use the active voice with ‘man’. Comp. S. 4, N. 4.

21 so pietätvoll.

22 bis auf.

23 Say ‘were first (zuerst) made (an´fertigen)’.

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