In WWI, doughboys had bandages to wind about lower leg
called "puttees". I wonder if from same root. It is not.

puttee

SYLLABICATION: put·tee
PRONUNCIATION: p-t, pt
NOUN: 1. A strip of cloth wound spirally around the leg from ankle to knee. Often used in the plural. 2. A gaiter covering the lower leg. Often used in the plural.
ETYMOLOGY: Hindi pa, from Sanskrit paik, from paaka, bandage, ribbon, from paa, strip of cloth.

Since puttee has an Anglo-Indian origin, I wondered what they used to call those puttee like things that European soldiers wore in the 17th and 18th centuries. I had to look it up: gaiters. (And with a side trip into spat from spatterdash.) I was also curious about the origin of the Sanskrit pat.t.i in the etymology. Turns out to be cognate with Greek pelte: 'small shield (of leather without a rim)' and Old Church Slavonic plat'no 'linen'. From the root *pel- 'to cover, veil, wrap; skin, hide, pelt, fur; cloth, fabric'.

Well, so much for my memory; I thought we had discussed the word spats before but couldn't find the origin. But wow gave it to us:
http://wordsmith.org/board/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=words&Number=22759