ARMLET. Although this word has the same meaning as bracelet, yet the latter is practically so exclusively used to denote the ornament of the wrist, that it seems proper to distinguish by armlet the similar ornament which is worn on the upper arm. There is also this difference between them, that in the East bracelets are generally worn by women, and armlets only by men. The armlet, however, is in use among men only as one of the insignia of sovereign power. There are three dif ferent words which the Auth. Vers. renders by bracelet. These are—I. 113t I etzadah, which occurs in Num. xxxfi. 50 ; 2 Sam. i. 10 ; and which being used with reference to men only, we take to be the armlet. 2. -rnv tzanzid, which is found in Gen. xxiv. 22 ; Num. xxxi. 5o ; Ezek. xvi. I I. Where these two words occur together (as in Num. xxxi. 5o), the first is rendered by 'chain,' and the second by bracelet.' 3. rrnt, sheroth, which occurs only in Is. iii. 19. The first we take to mean armlets worn by men ; the second, bracelets worn by women and sometimes by men; tree, which is named thrice in the Scriptures. It occurs among the ' speckled rods' which Jacob placed in the watering-troughs before the sheep (Gen. xxx. 37) : its grandeur is indicated in Ezek. xxxi. 8, as well as in Ecclus. xxiv. 19 : it is noted for its magnificence, shooting its high boughs aloft.
and the third, a peculiar bracelet of chain-work worn only by women. It is observable that the two first occur in Num. xxxi. 5o, which we sup pose to mean that the men offered their own arm lets and the bracelets of their wives. In the only
other passage in which the first word occurs it denotes the royal ornament which the Amalekite took from the arm of the dead Saul, and brought with the other regalia to David. There is little question that this was such a distinguishing band of jewelled metal as we still find worn as a mark of royalty from the Tigris to the Ganges. The Egyptian kings are represented with armlets, which were also worn by the Egyptian women. These, however, are not jewelled, but of plain or enamelled metal, as was in all likelihood the case among the Hebrews. In modern times the most celebrated armlets are those which form part of the regalia of the Persian kings, and which formerly belonged to the Mogul emperors of India. These ornaments are of dazzling splendour, and the jewels in them are of such large size and immense value that the pair are reckoned to be worth a million of our money. The principal stone of the right armlet is famous in the East by the name of the Devici-e-nzz, or Sea of light. It weighs 186 carats, and is con sidered the diamond of finest lustre in the world. The principal jewel of the left armlet, although of somewhat inferior size (146 carats) and value, is renowned as the Tddg-e-nzah, 6 Crown of the moon.' The imperial armlets, generally set with jewels, may also be observed in most of the portraits of the Indian emperors. [BRAcELET.]—J. K.