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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

How were socks invented?


How were socks invented?

The word ‘socks’ comes form the Latin word ‘soccus’. The soccus was a kind of loose fitting shoe worn by Roman comic actors that could be slipped off easily. When Romans wore ‘soccus’ with sandals, they removed their sandals when indoors, but kept their soccus on.

The ancient Egyptians were the first to sue crude woven socks to protect the feet. Archaeologists have found knitted and woven socks that date back to the fourth century in Egyptian Copt tombs, and interestingly, some of these show signs of having been carefully darned at the heel and toe. The great warrior from Central Europe, Attila the Hun wound brightly coloured stripes of cloth around his legs to protect them in the 4th century, and so did 8th century barbarian warriors. In 1589, the Reverend William Lee of Nottinghamshire, England invented a machine that could knit socks out of cotton, wool and silk. William took his invention to the curt of Queen Elizabeth I to try and get a patent for it but the Queen refused to grant one, as she was afraid that the machine would put thousands of women who hand knitted for a living out, of work.

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