Dictionary

barma en · NOUN

Etymology

From Russian барма (barma).

Meanings

1. A regal Russian mantle or neckpiece made of gold, encrusted with diamonds and other gems.
   • Barmy were official attributes of the authority of the grand duke and later the tsar. 2001, Barry Shifman, Guy Walton, editors, Gifts to the Tzars 1500-1700: Treasures from the Kremlin, Harry N. Abrams, →ISBN, page 148:
   • In 1831 the Armory got a welcome addition in what was described as “the Ryazan treasure”, the gold princely pendants and barmas, the small shoulder mantles of precious décor worn by Moscovite princes. 2006, Science in Russia, page 81:
   • The barmy consisted of panels of lace fastened together to form a circular fabric, which when laid on the tsar’s shoulders over his robe looked like a broad collar. 1991, Paul D. Steeves, editor, The Modern Encyclopedia of Religions in Russia and the Soviet Union: Apocrypha-Basilians, Academic International Press, →ISBN, page 221:
   • The tsar kissed the regalia, and covering the cross and the barma, gave them on the dish to the protopope, and the crown he gave to Lucian Stepan. 1873, William Palmer, editor, Testimonies Concerning the Patriarch Nicon, the Tsar, and the Boyars, from the Travels of the Patriarch Macarius of Antioch, London: Trübner and Co., […], page 390:
   • Half-length figure of Peter, three-quarters, in full regalia, with barmas, Cap of State, sceptre and orb. 1974, Medals and Coins of the Age of Peter the Great, page 46:

Forms