[Artemisia] Smalls vs. ???

[Elaine]

Greetings, everyone!
Morgan, or anyone,
Can someone please cite me a reference where "smalls" is used in period to
mean EITHER "underwear" in the sense of "clothing worn under other
clothing," or "people under the age of majority?"

The Oxford English Dictionary Online does not cite "smalls" in either of
those forms at all. "Small" was used as an adjective in period to mean
"narrow." The earliest reference in the OED is a noun from the Anglo-Saxon
gloss in the Book of Lindisfarne and means, according to the OED, "A smack
or blow; an onset, shock."

"Smalls" meaning ostensibly "underwear" may be a back-formation (in the folk
process) from "smallclothes," which means "Breeches; knee-breeches," in the
sense of _outerwear or street clothes_ with the OED's first reference being
in 1796, when breeches were fashionable.

I await refutation.
Wordily yours,
Caryn
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Message: 4
Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 12:21:42 -0700 (PDT)
From: morgan wolf <morganblaidddu at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Artemisia] Heraldry question
To: Kingdom of Artemisia mailing list
	<artemisia at lists.gallowglass.org>
Message-ID: <154714.99321.qm at web32815.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
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Yes, I did, that was my attempt at a gentle reminder that "smalls" is the
period term for underwear, not children.  The period term for children is,
get this, "children".  Weird, huh?

Morgan Blaidd Du,
mka Morgan Wolf
Damn Vicar Archery and Stuff
www.damnvicar.com
damnvicar at yahoo.com
occasional picker of nits