distinction between dress plaid and hunting plaid

[Arrowyn]

OK, so are you saying that only lower class men wore plaids? (my time frame is 1599-1603).

[EagleJCS]

OK, so are you saying that only lower class men wore plaids? (my time frame is 1599-1603).

Ah, here's where we get into the difficulty of the written word...

By the word 'plaid' do you intend the word pronounced 'plad', meaning the pattern of the colors on the cloth (or the weaving itself), often misused by people who intend to refer to tartan - or do you intend the word pronounced 'played', meaning the garment that is often worn draped over the left shoulder*?

If the former, then I would venture to guess that people of all classes would wear some tartan (or 'plad') on occasion, though the woven cloth would be finer in the higher eschelons of society - not the coarse weave of common woolens. The higher eschelons would also probably not wear the great kilt (the precursor to the modern kilt), which may or may not have actually been in existence in your time frame - from what I've read on Xmarks and elsewhere about the subject, there's not a lot of historical evidence one way or the other.

If the latter, then I would venture to guess that more lower-class men wore plaids ('playeds') than the middle- or upper-class, using them as both garment and 'field blanket', but that it wouldn't be entirely unheard-of for the "gentry" to wear them, especially if those gentry spent time 'in the field' (hunting, fishing, etc.) with their clansmen/kinsmen.


* There are, generally speaking, four varities of the latter: the 'piper's plaid', the 'belted plaid', the 'laird's plaid' or 'day plaid', and the dreaded 'fly plaid'.

The piper's plaid is the closest approximation to the original 'great kilt' - it's wrapped around the torso and draped over the left shoulder - much more to it, but I'm trying to be brief.

The belted plaid looks similar, but doesn't have all the material going across the chest - again, more to it but I'm being brief.

The laird's plaid is essentially just a folded tartan blanket, draped over the left shoulder.

The fly plaid is a relatively recent affectation - it's just a square of tartan cloth, fringed on one corner/end, pinned to the front of the left shoulder and left to hang freely off the back of the left shoulder (some might describe it as an over-sized tartan hankie).

[Arrowyn]

Okay. Thanks. I didn't mention the word 'tartan' anywhere in the book, since I assumed it referred to 'clan tartans' which did not exist until later on.

[neloon]

John,
I fear we may be getting beyond what is helpful to Arrowyn, but I have never heard the word "plad" in Scotland and it is not in the Scottish National Dictionary. It is presumably an Americanism. Incidentally the word "plaid" - pronounced "platch" in Gaelic - is related to "pelt" (Latin "peltatus" = animal skin) as would have been the original shoulder covering.
The modern Scottish view tends to position the invention of the Great Kilt at around 1580. Prior to that, the feileadh (blanket) was simply thrown around the shoulders when needed.
Some of your other statements are, as you admit, "guesses". I re-emphasise, the "Highlands" of 1600 was a veritable kaleidoscope of inhomogeneity!
P.S. In my last post, I implied that a horseman would not have worn the kilt but, occasionally, the feileadh WAS worn with trews

[Arrowyn]

I understood what he was saying, neloon. Thanks to both of you. I find this all fascinating. Keep it coming!

[EagleJCS]

John,
I fear we may be getting beyond what is helpful to Arrowyn, but I have never heard the word "plad" in Scotland and it is not in the Scottish National Dictionary. It is presumably an Americanism.

It very likely is. It could even be regional (since I grew up in the US Midwest and heard it used this way growing up), though both of my hardcopy dictionaries (Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language 1962 and The American Heritage Dictionary 1994) actually have this pronunciation - 'plad'. In fact, the primary definition in both volumes refers to the Scottish garment, which I have heard referred to in Scottish circles and as I described above, pronounced as 'played'.

Around here (the US in general), the word "plaid", when pronounced 'plad', refers to any material with a square cross-hatched pattern. So, tartan is a 'plad', Madras cloth is a 'plad', even a simple 'Buffalo check' (a plain red and black pattern similar in appearance to the Wallace tartan, without the yellow and black over-checks) is a 'plad'. Most "lumberjack" flannel shirts are also referred to a 'plad' shirts.


As for the rest, I have learned not to make any statements on a forum without qualifying them as being a guess or an inference, unless I absolutely know from first-hand knowledge or can cite a direct reference.

[Arrowyn]

And I have learned how to take great amounts of info, sometimes conflicting, and whittle it down to what I need. So don't worry about that part.