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Glite Dictionary
🌼 Having bracts 🪙 A thin coin
bracteate

bracteate

9.9
A thin metal coin with a design on one side from medieval Europe
  • noun
  • /ˈbræk.ti.ət/
  • Archaic
: bracteato
  • Archaeologists uncovered a bracteate that dated back to the medieval period, featuring symbols of power and authority.
  • figure on the bracteates
  • bracteates depict
  • images on the bracteates

Examples

  • The oldest bracteates found in the north are clear imitations of Roman medallions.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Hauck argues that the central figure portrayed on most of the bracteates, and particularly on the c-bracteates, is a representation of Odin.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The images on later a-bracteates contain a hand or a bird in addition to the central profile.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Given the organizing principle, it is difficult not to look at the bracteates in terms of these four main groups.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The images on the B-bracteates contain several different motifs.

    Academic text (1999)

  • On the c-bracteates, a four-legged creature appears below the head.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The four-legged creature on this bracteate has horns and a tail, and a line protrudes from its mouth.

    Academic text (1999)

  • The runic inscriptions on this bracteate are stamped on the circular image itself and include the magic form alu.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Hauck identifies the birds that appear on the bracteates as ravens and uses them as evidence to support his iconographic analysis.

    Academic text (1999)

  • Hauck interprets the central profiled figure on these, as on most of the bracteates, as Odin.

    Academic text (1999)

Synonyms

ducat
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
13 9.9

A gold coin used in Europe long ago

is a thin single-sided form rather than a heavier two-sided gold coin
solidus
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A gold coin used in the Byzantine Empire and in medieval Europe

is thin and single-sided rather than a thick two-sided gold piece
bezant
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A gold coin from the Byzantine Empire used in medieval Europe

is thin and single-sided rather than the common two-sided gold coin
denier
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
1 9.9

An old European coin used in the Middle Ages

is a thin and single-sided form rather than a regular coin
doit
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
1 9.9

A very small coin from long ago in Scotland and the Netherlands

is thin and single-sided rather than a plain two-sided low value coin
bawbee
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
1 9.9

An old Scottish coin from centuries ago that is worth very little

is thin and single-sided rather than the ordinary two-sided low value coin
bezzant
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
9.9

A gold coin from the Byzantine Empire used in Europe in the Middle Ages

is thin and single-sided rather than the regular solid metal coin
baiocco
vsbracteate
  • Archaic
9.9

A small old copper coin used long ago in the area around Rome

is thin and single-sided rather than a typical small double-sided coin

Surface Forms

bracteate singular
bracteates plural

Morphology

bracteate = bract (opaque) = bract + eate

Although formed from the Latin stem related to 'bract', the coin sense ('thin single-sided plate') is historically specialized and not derivable from the modern botanical sense of 'bract'.

Etymology

Bracteate as a name for a coin also comes from the Latin bractea, meaning a 'thin plate' used for thin metal discs long ago. That's why a bracteate is a thin, single-sided coin or ornament.