Varro - leather armour?

[D B Campbell]

De Lingua Latina V, 116: Lorica, quod e loris de corio crudo pectoralia faciebant; postea subcidit gallica e ferro sub id vocabulum, ex anulis ferrea tunica.

Just to put this in context: as you probably know, Varro gives definitions for a long list of words.

In this passage, he explains why armour is called "lorica, because they used to make chest-protectors from straps (lori) of untanned leather; but afterwards, the iron Gallica, an iron tunic made of rings, was included in the same word". In this sentence, Gallica is a substantive, showing that the Romans referred to the garment itself as "a Gallic" (hence, the argument that they believed it to have been invented by the Gauls -- why else call it "a Gallic"?)