Roman Leather Lamellae Scales from Karanis, Egypt

[Renatus]

Either way, if there's a connection between clibanus and clibanarii, it's presumably a colloquial reference to the inside of the 'pot' getting very hot, rather than the appearance of it or what it's made of! No need to assume anything about the type of armour being used; the weight and the heat generated by it is surely the important bit.

However, it's still possible that this is a false etymology, or that both words derive from the same root (something to do with covering or being covered?*) but are otherwise unrelated.

EDIT - * actually, doesn't the word cataphract mean something like 'covered'? If a clibanus was a dish that covered something to cook it, perhaps we're missing a more obvious connection between the words?

The first paragraph is the point that I object to. It is a modern notion that has no authority in ancient writing. That it is a false etymology, as suggested in the second has, I think, much to recommend it. However, I like the idea in the 'edit'. Catafractus and its derivatives (and, of course, its Greek origin) imply something covered up; clibanus and its derivatives could imply the same but in a different (more solid?) form.