It has been a while since I posted anything, but hope to rectify that soon.
As some of you may know, one of my many interests is in language. The other day I used the phrase “gird my loins”. It occurred to me that “gird” is an interesting verb that is nearly exclusively used for just this one phrase. It obviously has a connection with words such as “girdle”.
Today somebody pointed me in the direction of this on the Art of Manliness site.
A more extreme version of girding your loins before a fight was undertaken by Moro suicide murderers: “A strong band was wrapped firmly around the waist, and cords wrapped tightly around the genitals, ankles, knees, upper thighs, wrists, elbows, and shoulders, restricting blood flow and preventing the mag-sabil from losing too much blood from injury before accomplishing his gruesome task.”