Clothing grab in Paulus Hector Mair

[David_Knight]

I am stuck on a clause that seems to depict a clothing grab in one of Mair's wrestling plates (#5 in all editions):

"... atque diphteram coreaceam eius retro humerum collocatum quo solent athleticae artis magistri vestiri appraehendere cures."

The offending phrase is diphteram coreaceam, which I'm guessing is Latinized Greek (my transcription is definitely correct and those are not Latin words as far as I can tell). The nominative form would be diphtera coreacea.

The grammar seems to break down as follows:

"... atque ((diphteram coreaceam eius) (retro humerum collocatum) (quo solent athleticae artis magistri vestiri)) appraehendere cures."

An unwieldy literal translation is "... and you should take care to seize his diphtera coreacea, positioned behind the shoulder/upper arm, in which the masters of the Art of Athletics are accustomed to being clothed."

A more idiomatic translation would be "... and be sure to reach behind his shoulder/upper arm and seize his diphtera coreacea, which the masters of the Art of Athletics customarily wear."

Any idea what diphtera coreacea could be? Thanks.

[Brian Hunt]

Well,

the german reads goller which is kollier which translates as necklet.

The full german phrase reads "and fasten in behind his shoulder by the necklet . . ."

The words diphteram appears to come from a rare word dipteros and means "having a double row of collums all around; with two wings"

coreacea appears to be a Late Latin word for "cuirass or armour that protects the front and the back from the neck to the girdle. "

hope this helps.

Brian Hunt
GFS

[David_Knight]

Awesome. I had tentatively translated it as "collar." Thanks!