[OF. curte-hose short boot, from OF. hose, huese, hoese, house, heuse, boot, in mod.Picard heuse a boot coming up to the knee, med.L. hosa; of Teutonic origin: cf. OHG. hosa, MLG. hose, MDu. hoze, Du. hoos, OE. hose, covering for the leg (and foot): see HOSE.]
Short-boot, -legging or -greave: a surname given to Robert, eldest son of William the Conqueror; the med.L. was Curta ocrea.
[a. 1143. W. Malmesbury, Gest. Reg., IV. § 389 (1840), II. 607. Genitore … dicente, ‘Per resurrectionem Dei! probus erit Robelinus Curta Ocrea.’ Hoc enim erat ejus cognomen, quod esset exiguus.]
12[?]. Chron. de Mailros (Rerum Angl. Script. Vet. (1684), I. 160), Rodbertus Curtehose guerram contra patrem suum movit.
1350–70. Eulogium Hist. (1863), III. V. ci. 40. Robertus Courthoese.
1460. Capgrave, Chron. (Rolls), 130. He … beqwathe … to Robert, clepid Curthose, the duchi of Normandie.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 97. Robert named Gamberon, or Curthose, from the shortness of his legs.
