The Toga Was Deliberately Impractical
A toga is the draped garment of ancient Rome. Its inconvenience was part of the point.
A toga was the draped woollen outer garment of a Roman citizen. It was enormous — a semicircle of cloth up to six metres across — unsewn, unfastened and held only by the way it was wrapped. A wearer needed help to put it on and could not use his left arm freely afterwards. That was the message: a toga announced a man who did no manual work. Only citizens could wear one, and emperors repeatedly had to order senators to stop turning up in comfortable clothes.
- A Roman garment. *A white toga.*
- Toga praetexta. *The purple-bordered toga.*
- A citizen's dress. *Only for citizens.*
- Tegere — to cover. *The root.*
- Latin — *toga*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | toga | A toga. |
| Plural | togas | Togas. |
| Latin | toga | A toga. |
| Latin | tegere | To cover. |
| Related | tile | A tile. |
- He wore the toga of office.Rome.
- It needed help to put on.Practicality.
- Tegere means to cover.Etymology.
Kinds of toga
- Toga virilis — plain white, worn by adult male citizens
- Toga praetexta — purple border, for magistrates and boys
- Toga candida — whitened with chalk, worn by election candidates
- Toga pulla — dark, worn in mourning
- Candidate comes from *candida*, the whitened toga
Latin *toga*, from *tegere*, to cover, the same root as *tile* and *protect*.
Why was the toga so impractical?
Deliberately so. Its size and drape made manual work impossible, advertising that the wearer did none.
Is candidate related to the toga?
Yes. A toga candida was whitened with chalk and worn by those seeking office, giving the word candidate.