A punishment consisting of beating the soles of the feet with a stick or rod, historically practiced in some Middle Eastern and Mediterranean regions.
From Spanish bastonada and French bastonnade, derived from bastón/bâton (stick or club). The word entered European languages through contact with Ottoman and Middle Eastern justice systems where this punishment was common.
The bastinade was so notorious that European diplomats and travel writers in the Ottoman Empire made it infamous in Western literature—yet it persisted in various legal codes well into the 20th century in some regions.
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