To run the gauntlet means to take part in a form of corporal punishment in which the party judged guilty is forced to run between two rows of soldiers, who strike out and attack them with sticks or other weapons. Metaphorically, this expression is also used to express the idea of a public trial that one must overcome. Etymology and spelling The word originates from , from 'lane' and 'course, running'. It was borrowed into English in the 17th century, probably from English and Swedish soldiers fighting in the Protestant armies during the Thirty Years' War. The punishment itself was rarely used in the Swedish Army during the reign of the monarch Gustav III in the 1770s and was abolished in the Swedish Army in 1851 The word in English was originally spelled gantelope or gantlope, but soon its pronunciation was influenced by the unrelated word gauntlet, meaning an armored glove, derived from the . The spelling changed with the pronunciation. Both senses of gauntlet had the variant spelling gantlet. For the punishment, the spelling gantlet is preferred in American English usage guides by Bryan Garner and Robert Hartwell Fiske and is listed as a variant spelling of gauntlet by American dictionaries. British dictionaries label gantlet as American. Predecessor in antiquity A similar practice involving cudgeling (clubbing) was used in the Ancient Greek and Roman militaries as a form of execution or severe military punishment. It was known as in Ancient Greece and Fustuarium (a Latin abstraction from the Latin , a branch or rod) in the Roman military. In the Roman army, it could also be applied to every tenth man of a whole unit as a mode of decimation. Post-Roman usage A very similar military punishment found in later armies was known as "running the gauntlet". The condemned soldier was stripped to the waist and had to pass between a double row (hence also known as , 'the alley') of cudgeling or switching comrades. A subaltern walked in front of him with a blade to prevent him from running. The condemned might sometimes also be dragged through by a rope around the hands or prodded along by a pursuer. Various rules might apply, such as banning edged weapons, requiring the group to keep one foot in place, or allowing the soldier to attempt to protect his head with his hands. The punishment was not necessarily continued until death.