Run the gauntlet origin: And History - This

Run the gauntlet Origin and History - This expression has nothing to do with gauntlet as in glove. There are two distinct etymologies for the word gauntlet . The first and oldest is gauntlet meaning... But in the phrase, gauntlet , attested in 1676, is an alteration by association with gauntlet , glove, of the obsolete noun gantlope, first recorded in 1646, from Swedish gatlopp, literally, a lane run, composed of gata, a lane, and lopp, a run. The word gauntlet in “ running the gauntlet ” does not refer to the protective gloves of medieval knights as one might think at first, but to the Swedish word gatlopp, a compound of gata, "lane," and lopp, "course," and referred to a traditional form of punishment, in which two lines of people beat a person forced to run between them. The German Landsknecht and many other military organizations practiced this punishment throughout the ages. Idioms such as “to pass through the line” or ... Learn the meaning and origin of the idiom ' run the gauntlet ' and how to use it in everyday conversation.