Umbrellas existed in many ancient societies, including those of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, and India, where they served to protect important people from the sun, serving also as a sign of prestige and power. From these societies, the umbrella spread to the Greek and Roman worlds, and into Western Europe. But as Europe slowly descended into the Dark Ages, eventually recovering, umbrellas seem to have disappeared from European use for about 1,000 years. It seems the difficult times threw some shade on the popularity and use of what we now think of as a common device. Which is ironic in that umbrella was borrowed from the Italian word ombrella, a modification of the Latin umbella, which came from umbra meaning “shade, shadow.” Continue reading →