Pantaloons

   , PANTS

   For decades in England no gentleman would dare be seen wearing what were mockingly called pantaloons. No less a national hero than the Duke of Wellington was refused admittance to a club because he was wearing long pants rather than the breeches and silken hose expected of a member of royalty or another person of high rank. The pants worn in America by almost every man and many women is an abbreviation of pantaloons. The forebear of these articles of dress can be traced to the baggy trousers worn by a character in the Italian commedia dell'arte. A physician had been the patron saint of Venice—San Pantaleone. (The literal meaning is "all lion." Pan means all, and leone is "lion.") Pantaleone in the comedies was an elderly buffoon interested only in lechery, but who was usually outwitted by the women. He was always played as an emaciated dotard, wearing spectacles, one-piece, skintight breeches, and stockings that bloomed out above the knees. The passing years has transmogrified this patron saint of Venice into a lovable but simpleminded character in Italian comedy.

   With a slight orthographic change to pantaloon, his name was then equated with "clown." The word in plural form (pantaloons) subsequently entered the English language to describe a particular type of trousers. As fashions changed, pantaloons became the name of various types of trousers over the years. In time it was used in the shortened form of pants as the designation for trousers in general.