cnemid

English

Etymology

Ultimately from Ancient Greek κνήμη (knḗmē, “shin”).

Noun

cnemid (plural cnemids)

1. A greave: a bronze shin protector worn in combat by Ancient Greek warriors.
   • 1979, Jacques Briard, translated by Mary Turton, The Bronze Age in Barbarian Europe: From the Megaliths to the Celts‎^[1], Routledge, page 106:

     But at times it had been thought that they could have been variations on the cnemid, the bronze shin-protector worn by Greek warriors in combat.

   • 2008, Jean Guilaine, Jean Zammit, translated by Melanie Hersey, The Origins of War: Violence in Prehistory‎^[2], Wiley, page 205:

     The fresco battle painting from Pylos, Greece, shows warriors wearing cnemids for protection.

   • c. 2017, “Helmet of the Corinthian Type and Pair of Greaves”, in Metropolitan Museum of Art‎^[3]:

     This helmet and the pair of greaves (shin guard), or cnemids, complementing it belong to the key elements of a panoply, the set of offensive and defensive arms that a Greek warrior would have used in combat.

Related terms

• cnemis