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CURTAIN

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 650 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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CURTAIN , a See also:

SCREEN (usually, but very doubtfully, connected with Lat. scrinium, a box for holding books, from scribere, to write; a connexion with Ger. Schranke, barrier, has been suggested)

screen of any textile material, See also:

RUNNING

running by means of rings fixed to a See also:

rod or See also:

pole. Curtains are now used chiefly to See also:

COVER (from the Fr. convert, from couvrir, to cover, Lat. cooperire)

cover windows and doors, but for many centuries every See also:

bed of importance was surrounded by them, and sometimes, as in See also:

France, the space thus screened off was much larger than the actual bed and was called the ruelle. The curtain is very ancient—indeed the See also:

ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of See also:

glass and See also:

ILL

ill-fitting windows See also:

long made it a See also:

NECESSITY (Lat. necessitas)

necessity. Originally single curtains were used; it would appear that it was not until the 17th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century that they were employed in pairs. Curtains are made in an See also:

INFINITE (from Lat. in, not, finis, end or limit; cf. findere, to deave)

infinite variety of materials and styles; when placed over a See also:

DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. Bbpa,. Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. Obpa and Lat. fares)

door they are usually called portieres. In fortification the " curtain " is that See also:

PART

part of the See also:

ENCEINTE (Lat. in, within, cinctus, girdled; to be distinguished from the word meaning " pregnant," from in, not, and cinctus, i.e. with girdle loosened)

enceinte which lies between two bastions, towers, See also:

GATES, HORATIO (1728-1806)

gates, &c. The word comes into See also:

ENGLISH

English through the O. Fr. cortine or courtine from the See also:

LATE

Late See also:

LAT

Lat. cortina. According to Du Cange (Glossarium, s.v. " Cortis ") this is a diminutive of cortis, an enclosed space, a See also:

court. It is used in the various senses of the English " curtain." Classical Latin had also a word cortina, meaning a caldron or See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round See also:

KETTLE, SIR RUPERT ALFRED (1817-1894)

kettle. It was very rarely applied to round See also:

OBJECTS

objects generally.

In the See also:

VULGATE (from Lat. vulgus, the common people)

Vulgate cortina is used of the curtains of the See also:

tabernacle (See also:

Exodus See also:

XXVI

xxvi). There is some difficulty in connecting the classical and the Late Latin words. The earliest use in English is, according to the New English See also:

DICTIONARY

Dictionary, for the hangings of a bed.

End of Article: CURTAIN

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