Vantbrace

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An item of defensive gear designed for arm protection during combat
2. A historical piece of armor that protects the forearm and elbow while allowing movement
3. A piece of armor worn to shield the forearm and elbow from injury during battle

Etymology: The "vantbrace" spelling is simply a variant of "vambrace", the piece of armour that protected the forearm from wrist to elbow. Its name is a compound that pairs two French-derived parts: "avant", meaning "before" or "in front", and "bras", meaning "arm". Together they give a literal sense of "fore-arm", which is exactly what the armour covers. The word reached English through Anglo-Norman, the French dialect spoken by the Norman ruling class after 1066, and appears in Middle English in forms such as "vambras" and "vauntbras". Those spellings show how the first element drifted: the "avant" of the French original was reshaped into "vaunt" and "vam" in English, as speakers and scribes fitted it to familiar sounds and spellings. The same process produced "vantbrace", a spelling that appears alongside the standard form.