carcanet (KAHR-kuh-net) - (arch.) n., a jeweled collar, necklace, or headband.
Collar being the original meaning -- when you see it in Shakespeare, that's how to read it -- and headband the last in semi-common use. Coined in 1530 as a diminutive of carcan, choker, itself adopted from Middle French, from Medieval Latin carcannum, from Germanic root carc-, throat + Latin ānus, ring.
---L.
Collar being the original meaning -- when you see it in Shakespeare, that's how to read it -- and headband the last in semi-common use. Coined in 1530 as a diminutive of carcan, choker, itself adopted from Middle French, from Medieval Latin carcannum, from Germanic root carc-, throat + Latin ānus, ring.
---L.