In the Bible there are three different words which the authorized
version renders by "bracelet." These are--(1) [Hebrew: 'es'adah]
_'es'adah_, which occurs in Num. xxxi. 50, 2 Sam. i. 10, and which being
used with reference to men only, may be taken to be the _armlet_; (2)
[Hebrew: samid] _samid_, which is found in Gen. xxiv. 22, Num. xxxi. 50,
Ezek. xvi. 11;--where these two words occur together (as in Num. xxxi.
50) the first is rendered by "chain," and the second by "bracelet"; (3)
[Hebrew: sheroth] _sheroth_, which occurs only in Isa. iii. 19. The
first probably meant armlets worn by men; the second, bracelets worn by
women and sometimes by men; and the third a peculiar bracelet of
chain-work worn only by women. In 2 Sam. i. 10 the first word denotes
the royal ornament which the Amalekite took from the arm of the dead
Saul, and brought with the other regalia to David. There is little
question that this was such a distinguishing band of jewelled metal as
we still find worn as a mark of royalty from the Tigris to the Ganges.
The Egyptian kings are represented with armlets, which were also worn by
the Egyptian women. These, however, are not jewelled, but of plain or
enamelled metal, as was in all likelihood the case among the Hebrews.
In modern times the most celebrated armlets are those which form part of
the regalia of the Persian kings and formerly belonged to the Mogul
emperors of India, being part of the spoil carried to Persia from Delhi
by Nadir Shah in 1739. These ornaments are of dazzling splendour, and
the jewels in them are of such large size and immense value that the
pair have been reckoned to be worth a million sterling. The principal
stone of the right armlet is famous in the East under the name of the
_Darya-i-nur_, "sea (or river) of light." It weighs 186 carats, and is
considered the diamond of finest lustre in the world. The principal
jewel of the left armlet, although of somewhat inferior size (146
carats) and value, is renowned as the _Taj-e-mah_, "crown of the moon."
The imperial armlets, generally set with jewels, may also be observed in
most of the portraits of the Indian emperors.
Bracelets have at all times been much in use among barbaric nations, and
the women frequently wear several on the same arm. The finer kinds are
of mother-of-pearl, fine gold or silver; others of less value are made
of plated steel, horn, brass, copper, beads, &c. Chinese bracelets are
sometimes cut out of single pieces of jade.
This species of personal ornament has been exceedingly common in Europe
from prehistoric times onward. The bracelets of the Bronze Age were of
either gold or bronze, silver being then unknown. In shape they were
oval and penannular with expanding or trumpet-shaped ends, having an
opening between them of about half an inch to enable them to be easily
slipped over the wrist. Those of gold were generally plain, hammered
rods, bent to the requisite shape, but those of bronze were often chased
with decorative designs. Some forms of spiral armlets of bronze,
peculiar to Germany and Scandinavia, covered the whole fore-arm, and
were doubtless intended as much for defence against a sword-stroke as
for ornament. Among the nations of classical antiquity, bracelets were
worn by both sexes of the Etruscans; by women only among the Greeks,
except in orientalized communities. Among the Romans they were worn by
women only as a rule, but they are also recorded to have been used
during the empire by _nouveaux riches_, and by some of the emperors. It
should also be mentioned that bracelets were conferred as a military
decoration in the field.
[Illustration: From _La Grande Encyclopedie_.