‖ pelta
(ˈpɛltə)
Pl. peltæ (-tiː).
[L. pelta, a. Gr. πέλτη a small light shield of leather.]
1. Antiq. A small light shield or buckler used by the ancient Greeks, Romans, etc.
| 1600 Holland Livy xxviii. v. 670 The Peltæ are certaine small bucklers or targuets, nothing unlike unto the Spanish Cetræ. 1702 Addison Dial. Medals Wks. 1736 III. 137 On the left arm of Smyrna, is the Pelta or Buckler of the Amazons. 1849 Grote Greece ii. xlix. VI 294 Lightly armed with javelins,..and the pelta or small shield. |
2. Bot. Applied to various shield-like structures; spec. the apothecium or spore-case of a lichen when without an excipulum or rim, as in the genus Peltigera (Peltidea); also, a bract or scale attached by the middle like a peltate leaf.
| 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. i. iii. (1765) 9 The Peltæ are the Fructification of the Lichen. 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxxii. (1794) 499 Ash-coloured Ground Liverwort [Lichen caninus Lin.]..is..veined underneath, and villous, with a rising pelta or target on the edge. 1858 Carpenter Veg. Phys. §756 This head consists of a central disk, termed the pelta, or shield, on which the spore cases are arranged in a radiating manner, like the spokes of a wheel. |
3. Archit. An ornamental shield motif (see quots.).
| 1928 A. W. Clapham in Archaeologia XXVII. 227 The Pelta Ornament..consists essentially of pairs of half-circles set back to back in such a way that the combination forms a series of figures like a double-headed axe or an Amazon-shield. 1936 ― Romanesque Archit. iii. 61 Of much less frequent occurrence is the Carolingian pelta-ornament, used as a diaper on roll-mouldings at Piacenza, Modena, Cremona, and Ferrara Cathedrals. 1942 Oxoniensia VII. 70 The eye is at once attracted to the small field of decoration on the head allotted to an engraved and enamelled pelta-scroll flung haphazard on the surface. 1954 M. Rickert Painting in Brit.: Middle Ages 230 Pelta, a classical ornamental motif formed by two converging curves joined by another line. The ancestor of the trumpet pattern. 1965 R. Krautheimer Early Christian & Byzantine Archit. 362 Pelta, a shield-shaped design composed of a convex curve joined to two concave curves. 1967 Antiquaries Jrnl. XLVII. 167 On the extreme right is a border of black and white composed of small alternating semicircular forms producing the effect of a pelta pattern. |