Rabbi is the term in Judaism for a religious teacher. The word rabbi derives from the Hebrew root word , rav, which in biblical Hebrew means ‘great’ in many senses, including "revered." The word comes from the Semitic root R-B-B, and is cognate to Arabic ربّ rabb, meaning "lord" Rabbi ' onMouseout='HidePop("1268")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Shlomo_ben_Aderet">Solomon ben Abraham Ibn Adret
Shlomo ben Aderet was a Medieval rabbi, halakhist, and Talmudist. He is widely known as the Rashba , the Hebrew acronym of his title and name: Rabbi Shlomo ben Aderet.The Rashba was born in Barcelona, Spain, in 1235...
, "the Rashba", (ca. 1233-ca.1310) was asked if it was permissible to wear "patines" on
ShabbatShabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from sundown Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night...
, to which he replied that it was the custom of "all the wise in the land" to wear them, and certainly permitted.
Since shoes of the period had thin soles, pattens were commonly used mainly because of unpaved roads and also that indoor stone floors were very cold in winter. Furthermore, refuse in cities – animal especially horse
dungDung may refer to:* Dung, animal feces* Dung, Doubs, a commune in the Doubs department in France* Mundungus "Dung" Fletcher, a character in Harry Potter* Dung beetle...
and human
effluentEffluent is an outflowing of water from a natural body of water, or from a man-made structure.Effluent in the man-made sense is generally considered to be water pollution, such as the outflow from a sewage treatment facility or the wastewater discharge from industrial facilities...
(from
chamber potA chamber pot is a bowl-shaped container with a handle kept in the bedroom under a bed or in the cabinet of a nightstand and generally used as a urinal at night...
s)– was usually thrown directly into the street (often with minimal advance warning). Making full foot contact with such an unpleasant surface was, understandably, highly undesirable. Thus, pattens tended to only make contact with the ground through two or three strips of wood and raised the wearer up considerably, sometimes by four inches (ten centimetres) or more in contrast to clogs which usually have a low, flat-bottomed
soleSole may refer to:* Sole , the bottom of the foot* Sole , the bottom supporting member of the shoe-In business:* Sole proprietorship, a business which legally has no separate existence from its owner...
integral to the shoe.
Early Modern period
A later pattern of patten which seems to date from the 17th century, and then became the most common, had a flat metal ring which made contact with the ground, attached to a metal plate nailed into the wooden sole via connecting metal, often creating a platform of by several inches (more than 7 centimetres). By this time men's shoes had thicker soles and the wealthier males (the
gentryGentry denotes “well-born and well-bred people” occupying the social class of the minor aristocracy, and whose income derives from their large landholdings.- British :...
or gentlemen) commonly wore high
riding bootRiding boots are boots made to be used for horse riding. The classic boot comes high enough up the leg to prevent the leathers of the saddle from pinching the leg of the rider, has a sturdy toe to protect the rider's foot when on the ground, and has a distinct heel to prevent the foot from sliding...
s, thus pattens seem only to have been worn by women and working-class men in outdoor occupations. Since dress
hemTo hem a piece of cloth , a garment workerfolds up a cut edge, folds it up again, and then sews it down. The process of hemming thus completely encloses the cut edge in cloth, so that it cannot ravel....
s extended down to the feet for most of this period, it was necessary to raise the hem above the ground to keep the dress clean even in well-swept and paved streets. The
mottoA motto is a phrase meant to formally describe the general motivation or intention of a social group or organization. A motto may be in any language, but Latin is the most used...
of the London
Worshipful Company of PattenmakersThe Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Pattenmakers, who were incorporated by Royal Charter in 1670, were makers of wooden-soled overshoes. Pattens were helpful in walking through the muddy streets of London. However, with the advent of...
, the former representative
guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
for this trade, was and remains:
Recipiunt Fœminæ Sustentacula Nobis, Latin for
Women Receive Support From Us. The 19th century invention of cheap rubber galoshes gradually displaced the patten, as did the widespread use of
urbanUrban means "related to cities." It may refer to:*Urban, California, former town in El Dorado County*Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas*Urban culture, culture of cities*Urban , given name and surname...
paving, especially elevated, paved pathways only for
pedestrianA pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using roller skates, skateboards, and similar devices are also considered to be pedestrians. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was...
s- the now ubiquitous
sidewalkA sidewalk , pavement , footpath , platform or footway is a path for pedestrians that is situated alongside a road or a paved...
s or footpaths.
Etiquette and Practicality
Wearing of pattens inside church was discouraged, if not outright forbidden: perhaps because of the noise they made, the oft-commented "clink" being the consensus term for the sound;
Jane AustenJane Austen was an English novelist, whose realism, biting social commentary and use of free indirect speech, have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature....
wrote of the "ceaseless clink of pattens" referring to life in Bath.. To talk excessively and too loudly was coined to be as if one: "had your "tongue run (or go) on pattens", used by Shakespeare and others.. In houses, pattens were taken off with hats (for men) and overcoats upon entering, not doing so being considered rude and inconsiderate by bringing dirt inside - literally a
faux pas or wrong step. The aunt of the
BrontëThe Brontë sisters , Charlotte , Emily and Anne , were English writers of the 1840s and 1850s...
Sisters, Miss Branwell, seems to have been considered notably eccentric for wearing her pattens indoors:
Pattens were not always easy to walk in, and despite their practical intention, literary evidence suggests that they could appear, at least to males, as a further aspect of feminine frailty and dependency.
Samuel PepysSamuel Pepys, FRS was an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament, who is now most famous for his diary. Although Pepys had no maritime experience, he rose by patronage, hard work and his talent for administration, to be the Chief Secretary to the Admiralty under both King Charles II...
recorded in his Diary for January 24, 1660:
From the
Middle Period Poems of
John ClareJohn Clare was an English poet, born the son of a farm labourer who came to be known for his representations of the English countryside...
(1820s):
-
("hitops" are high boots)
From Thomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet of the naturalist movement, although in several poems he displays elements of the previous romantic and enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural. He regarded himself primarily as a poet and composed novels...
's The WoodlandersThe Woodlanders is a novel by Thomas Hardy. It was published in 1887.-Plot summary:The story takes place in a small woodland village called Little Hintock, and concerns the efforts of an honest woodsman, Giles Winterborne, to marry his childhood sweetheart, Grace Melbury...
of 1887, though set earlier in the century:
Other uses of the term
The word could also be used as a term for a wooden soled shoe, that is a chopineA chopine is a type of women's platform shoe that was popular in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Chopines were originally used as a patten, clog, or overshoe to protect the shoes and dress from mud and street soil....
or clogClogs are a type of footwear. There are four main types of clogs. Clogs can be a type of shoe or sandal made predominantly out of wood. They can be a type of heavy boot or shoe with sides, uppers and typically thick wooden soles, and may have steel toecaps and/or steel reinforcing inserts in the...
, as opposed to an overshoe, until at least the nineteenth century. The word was also used for the traditional wooden outdoor shoes of Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and other Asian countries. What are in effect snowshoeSnowshoes, sometimes colloquially referred to as webs, are footwear for walking over snow. Snowshoes work by distributing the weight of the person over a larger area so that the person's foot doesn't sink completely into the snow, a quality called "flotation".Traditional snowshoes have a hardwood...
s for mud, as used by wildfowlers, boatmen, and Coast GuardA coast guard or coastguard is a national organization responsible for various services at sea. However the term implies widely different responsibilities in different countries.-Role:...
s may also be called pattens, or "mud-pattens". These are shaped boards attached to the sole of a shoe, which extend sideways well beyond the shape of the foot, and therefore are a different sort of footwear from the patten discussed here.
"Horse-pattens" were used on horses, especially for ploughThe plough is a tool used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting. It has been a basic instrument for most of recorded history, and represents one of the major advances in agriculture...
ing muddy fields. The word was also used for ice-skateIce skating is moving on ice by use of ice skates. It can be done for a variety of reasons, including leisure, traveling, and various sports. Ice skating occurs both on specially prepared indoor and outdoor tracks, as well as on naturally occurring bodies of frozen water such as lakes and...
s, as it is in French (patiner, to skate).
The Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers
In London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, the Worshipful Company of PattenmakersThe Worshipful Company of Pattenmakers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Pattenmakers, who were incorporated by Royal Charter in 1670, were makers of wooden-soled overshoes. Pattens were helpful in walking through the muddy streets of London. However, with the advent of...
remains the Livery CompanyThe 108 Livery Companies are trade associations based in the City of London, almost all of which are known as the "Worshipful Company of" the relevant trade or profession. The Livery Companies originally developed as guilds and were responsible for the regulation of their trades, controlling, for...
, formerly guildA guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade.The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel and a secret society...
of the Patten-makers, or Patteners, and their adopted church remains St Margaret PattensSt Margaret Pattens is a Church of England church in the City of London, located on Eastcheap near the Monument. The dedication is to St. Margaret of Antioch.-History:...
. The first record of the guild dates to 1379, and there was still a pattenmaker listed in a London Trade Directory in the 1920s. A notice, probably 18th century, in the Guild Church still requests ladies to remove their pattens on entering; other English churches have similar signs, and in one case, a board with pegs for ladies to hang them on.
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