sporran
/ˈspɒr(ə)n
/noun
A small pouch worn around the waist so as to hang in front of the kilt as part of men’s Scottish Highland dress.After opening the centre, it will launch what it claims is the first Highland clothing label encompassing kilts, sporrans, jackets, and shoes....
- But it now seems that the news of a new director has calmed the ruffled kilts and sporrans, and there is peace in the glens once more.
- Passing each one, he fingered their kilts and sporrans until he reached Sergeant Thomas Campbell and grew more inquisitive.
Origin
Mid 18th century: from Scottish Gaelic sporan.
purse from Old English:
A purse gets its name from its traditional material, leather. The word came into English some time in the 11th or 12th centuries from Latin bursa, which meant ‘money bag’ and also ‘leather, animal skin’. Bursa is the source of bursar (late 16th century), disburse (mid 16th century), and reimburse (early 17th century). Despite the difference in spelling, it is also the root of sporran, a small pouch worn around the waist by Scotsmen as part of Highland dress. The Latin word developed into Irish sparán ‘purse’ and then Scottish Gaelic sporan, and was first used in English by the Scottish novelist Sir Walter Scott in the early 19th century.