First use: mid 18th century – most likely due to Dougal, the devilman, without a shirt on…
Anatomy def: Thick, triangular muscle covering the shoulder joint and forming the rounded contour of the shoulder.
Outlander def: Muscular symbol of defiance, strength, courage, challenge, dispute, dissent, confrontation, valor, grit, protest and yadda, yadda, yadda!
Learn about the deltoid muscle in Anatomy Lesson #2, “When Claire Meets Jamie” or “How to Fall in Love While Reducing a Dislocated Shoulder Joint!” We’re going a ways back there…
Read about Dougal’s, Claire’s and Jamie’s shoulders, in that order; here, from Dragonfly in Amber book:
Sworn as a boy of eighteen to support his brother’s chieftainship, he had kept that vow for nearly thirty years. And would keep it, I knew, until the day that Colum died or could lead no longer. But on that day, the mantle of chief would descend on his shoulders, and the men of clan MacKenzie would follow where he led—… Being Dougal MacKenzie, he laughed.
One finger touched me then, gently as a moth’s foot, tracing the line of arm and shoulder, gliding down my rib cage ’til I shivered at the touch and rolled away, facing him now.
The soap bubbles ran down across the wet, gleaming curves of his shoulders, and my hands followed them, spreading the slickness so that my fingers seemed to float on the surface of his skin. He was big, I thought.
See Dougal flex his bared deltoids (yes! he’s finally undressed!) after demo-ing a Highland charge to raw recruits in Starz episode 209, Je Suis Prest!
A deeply grateful,
Outlander Anatomist