#1156 Why are trousers / pants plural?

Why are trousers / pants plural? Trousers and pants are plural because they used to be separated into left leg and right leg.

Before we begin, people in the UK say trousers and people in the USA say pants and they both mean the same thing. However, all of the words have different origins. The word trousers comes from a Gaelic word “triubhas”, a word that was also used in Ireland. It meant close fitting shorts. The word slowly evolved into trews and then trousers. The plural we use with trousers could have very well come from triubhas. We can also use breeches to mean trousers. This word has come from the Scottish word “breeks”, which also meant coverings for the legs. Then we have the word pants which came from the Italian word “pantalone”. It came into English via French and was shortened to pants. Pantaloon actually comes from a 4^th century Roman Catholic saint who was called Pantaleon. He was the patron saint of Venice and over time Venetians became known as Pantaloni. From this name developed a stereotypical Venetian character used in a lot of plays to be the bad guy. He was usually miserly and wealthy. He was called Pantaloni, which became Pantalon in French. This was in the 1580s. The character usually wore spectacles, slippers, and tight trousers, which became known, as Pantalon.

Triubhas, or trews as they were called in Scotland, were clothes that covered the legs and the lower abdomen. They were often in tartan and could be worn instead of a kilt. They have been around for a long time. There is a record of a Roman general called Caecina wearing trews in 69 BC, so they had obviously been around long before that. They looked similar to modern golfing trousers which were based on the trews.

Pantaloons were a little bit different to triubhas or trews. After the association with the tight-fitting trousers worn by Pantaloni, the name was used to refer to tight trousers that stopped at the knee and were buttoned or buckled above long socks or stockings. This started in the 18^th century. Within a hundred years, the name had come to refer to other kinds of trousers as well.

Trousers in all of their forms have existed for thousands of years. The earliest pair were found in Austria when the mummy of a man called Otzi was uncovered there. He was wearing a pair of trousers. There are several reasons why people started to wear trousers. The first must be that it makes running easier when people are hunting. In hot countries, hunters would have just worn a loin cloth, but in colder climes, where more clothing was necessary, trousers were more practical. The second reason must be horse riding. As people started to ride horses, trousers made a lot more sense.

So, why do we use the plural to refer to pants and trousers? It appears to be because trews, triubhas, and pantaloons were all items that had a separate left leg and right leg. You put the individual legs on and then tied or strapped them to a cod piece or an item that went over the crotch. You had a left trouser and a right trouser, together they are trousers or a pair of trousers. We have a lot of similar terms. We say a pair of glasses or a pair of spectacles to refer to eyeglasses, even though there is only one item. We say a pair because you have one glass for the left eye and one glass for the right eye. We say a pair of scissors. This comes from the Latin caesorium, which means a cutting instrument. It went into French and became cisoire. They gave it a plural form, cisoires because there are two blades, and that came into English as scissors. We never had the singular.

There is an expression for nouns that only have a plural form, even for the singular. It is plurale tantum, which means “only plural” in Latin. Words like trousers, pants, and scissors are obviously plurale tantum. The opposite of plurale tantum is singulare tantum, which are words that only have a singular form. Words like information, milk, wealth, and rain. And this is what I learned today.

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Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trews

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trousers

https://www.etymonline.com/word/pants

https://www.etymonline.com/word/trousers