balaclava

今日の1語、balaclavaとは何のことかご存知でしょうか？

答えは、目出し帽のことです。顔面をすっぽりと覆うようにして、目の部分だけが開いているものです。

Dozens of masked men, suspected of being tied to a White nationalist group, were arrested near an Idaho pride event on Saturday after they were found packed in the back of a U-Haul truck.

Couer d'Alene police confirmed in a press briefing that 31 individuals from a variety of states were inside the U-Haul after it was stopped by local and Idaho State Police several blocks from the pride event on Saturday afternoon. 

The several dozen men inside the truck wore khakis, navy blue shirts and beige hats with white balaclavas covering their faces and police say that some of them wore patches that identified with Patriot Front, a White supremacist group, according to some civil rights organizations.

(Andrew Mark Miller. Idaho police arrest dozens on suspicion of conspiracy to riot at gay pride event. Fox News. June 11, 2022.)

以前、"half-masking"という表現を取り上げたことがありましたが、その際、"half mask"は目出し帽のように顔を覆う被り物のことだと触れました。

この"balaclava"は登山者などが防寒のために着用する毛糸の帽子、ニット帽のことであるという説明もあります。

ところで、"balaclava"の名前はウクライナのクリミア半島にある地名Balaklavaに由来します。

Merriam-Websterによると、クリミア戦争で英軍が使用したのが最初だそうです。

A balaclava is a knit cap used for protection against the cold that covers the head, neck, and most of the face. It is sometimes worn as a mask by criminals and terrorists.

The name comes from the site of a Crimean War battle in 1854, where the British army reportedly first used these caps.

(Merriam-Webster Dictionary)

時節柄、興味深い語源ではないでしょうか。