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saltire (n.)

c. 1400, sautour, an ordinary that resembles a St. Andrew's Cross on a shield or flag, consisting of a bend dexter and a bend sinister crossing each other, from Old French sautoir, sautour, literally "stirrup," and directly from Medieval Latin saltarium, from neuter of Latin saltatorius "pertaining to leaping," from salire "to leap" (see salient (adj.)). The connection between a stirrup and the diagonal cross is perhaps the two deltoid shapes that comprise the cross.

Entries related to saltire

salient (adj.)

1560s, "leaping," a heraldic term, from Latin salientem (nominative saliens), present participle of salire "to leap," from a PIE root of uncertain form (source also of Sanskrit sisarsi, sisrate "to flow, run, hurry;"Greek hallesthai "to leap," Middle Irish saltraim "I trample," Middle Welsh sathar "trampling").

It was used in Middle English as an adjective meaning "leaping, skipping." The meaning "pointing outward" (preserved in military usage) is from 1680s; that of "prominent, striking" first recorded 1840, from salient point (1670s), which refers to the heart of an embryo, which seems to leap, and translates Latin punctum saliens, going back to Aristotle's writings. Hence, the "starting point" of anything.

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Definitions of saltire from WordNet

saltire (n.)
a cross resembling the letter x, with diagonal bars of equal length;
Synonyms: St. Andrew's cross
From wordnet.princeton.edu

Dictionary entries near saltire

saltatorial

salt-box

salt-cellar

saltine

saltiness

saltire

saltpeter

saltpetre

salty

salubrious

salubrity

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