saltire

English

WOTD – 30 November 2016

The Saint Andrew's cross or saltire (sense 2), the national flag of Scotland

Saint Patrick's Cross, a red saltire (sense 1) on a white background

Etymology

From Middle English sawtoure, from Old French sautoir (“stile, saltire”) (compare French sautoir (“saltire”)), from sauter (“to jump, to leap”) + -oir (subject forming nouns denoting physical objects from verbs), from Latin saltāre (“to dance, to jump”) + -orium, -oria.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsæl.taɪə/, /ˈsɔːl-/
• Hyphenation: sal‧tire

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

Noun

saltire (plural saltires)

1. (heraldry) An ordinary (geometric design) in the shape of an X. It usually occupies the entire field in which it is placed.
2. The Saint Andrew's cross, the flag of Scotland.
   • 2011 October 1, Tom Fordyce, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 16 – 12 Scotland”, in BBC Sport‎^[1], archived from the original on 26 September 2016:

     But the World Cup winning veteran's left boot was awry again, the attempt sliced horribly wide of the left upright, and the saltires were waving aloft again a moment later when a long pass in the England midfield was picked off to almost offer up a breakaway try.

   • 2014 September 16, Ian Jack, “Is this the end of Britishness?”, in The Guardian‎^[2], London, archived from the original on 18 April 2016:

     It was early August. In the Borders, there were few signs yet of a campaign that could take Scotland out of the United Kingdom. A large Y-E-S hung in separate letters from a tree on the road from Coldstream to Kelso. There wasn't a N-O to match it, but Kelso town hall flew both the saltire and the union jack.

3. The Saint Patrick's Cross, the pre 1922 flag of Ireland.

Synonyms

• (heraldry): crux decussata
• (flag of Scotland): Saint Andrew's cross

Translations

ordinary in the shape of a cross

• Finnish: vinoristi (fi)
• German: Andreaskreuz (de) n, Schrägkreuz n
• Swedish: andreaskors (sv) n, krysskors n, X-kors n, snedkors n

Saint Andrew's cross — see Saint Andrew's cross

Anagrams

• A-lister, Altiers, Lasiter, Raelist, airtels, railest, realist, retails, saltier, slatier, tailers

Romanian

Noun

saltire f (plural saltiri)

1. Alternative form of psaltire

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	saltire	saltirea		saltiri	saltirile
genitive-dative	saltiri	saltirii		saltiri	saltirilor
vocative	saltire, saltireo			saltirilor