morion

[prettygoodword]

morion (MOHR-ee-on) - n., a type of open helmet with a flat or turned-down brim and a front-to-back crest.


Ye typical Conquistador helmet. Typically worn by common soldiers -- in England, specifically by pikemen (it's also known as a pikeman's pot). Example. The name was borrowed around 1560 from French, from Spanish morrión, after which the trail gets cold and dictionaries do not agree in the slightest (conjectured sources include that it's a Moorish thing, morro meaning round object, and morra meaning the top of the head.

---L.

Comments

[mount-oregano.livejournal.com]

The dictionary of the Real Academia Española confirms that the word is of "uncertain origin."

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Disappointing to learn but heartening to hear.