Hi this is Tutor Nick P and this is Word Origins 73. The word origin today is " high heels. " Okay.
Well, let's take a look at the note here. The origin of high heels goes all the
way back to the 15th century in Persia. Now remember of course Persia that was
the old name for Iran. So that is what is Iran today. So high heels actually
originally comes from what is today Iran. All right. Let's continue. Ironically not
only were they made for men, but the original ones were made for soldiers.
Okay to help them to secure their feet in stirrups. Okay.
Remember stirrups are the metal objects that support each foot while riding a
horse. So you've probably seen that with cowboys. They put their boots. They put
the foot right into the stirrup, so that you know that gives them more support.
The high heels and the stirrups helped the soldiers to be able to stand while
shooting arrows. You know, on the horses and provided more secure balance. So
that's it. It was really for war. So high heels were you know, made originally for
soldiers and it was more to help them, you know, in their fighting ability for
for war. Actually mmm ironically. All right. Let's continue. Later Persian migrants
you know, people that moved from Persia brought this type of shoe trend to
Europe. At this time Europe's ... European royalty and nobility
picked up on this simply to appear taller, especially since many of them at
least were not all naturally this way. More height could give them a feeling of
being stronger or more powerful or more superiority. Remember I don't know if
you're if you're a king or royalty and you're really tiny in the peasants you
know, standing a foot over you, I guess it might be a little intimidating. They liked
the idea of being taller. So any support they can get in
that way. So that's how it took off. So really it took off again for men first. And
eventually this led to women getting high heels and of course you know, we
know nowadays that high heels are mostly used for women. Okay. All right. Good . And
we just really have one example here. She likes to wear stiletto heels. Remember
the stiletto, they're the ones with the really high pointy ones. The ones that
sometimes in these horror movies could almost be used as a weapon. You could
take that stiletto heel and practically stab somebody with it. Okay. Anyway I hope
you got it. I hope it was clear. I hope it was informative. Thank you for your time.
Bye-bye.