The Etymologies of Isidore of Seville - Pot-pourri

public (palam) that war (bellum) was approaching. 10.
Abordered-around (circumtextus) garment is what is
called (“encircled by a border all around”) in
Greek. Concerning it Vergil says (Aen. 1.649):
Andamantle bordered around (circumtextus) with
saffron acanthus.
It is called ‘bordered-around’ because it is a round cloak.
11. Diplois is a Greek term (cf. ,“double cloak”),
used because it is a double-folded (duplex) garment.
Horace says (Epistles 1.17.25):
On the other hand, he whom Patience covers with a
doubled (duplex) cloak.
12. There is also military clothing, which first began
to be used from enemy booty in the campaigns in Gaul.
Concerning which this was said in the Senate: “With
their togas put aside the Quirites took up the sagum
(i.e. the military cloak).” 13. Sagum (i.e. a coarse woolen
mantle) is a Gallic term. It is called the sagum quadrum
because at first among the Gauls it used to be ‘square or
fourfold’ (quadratus vel quadruplex). 14. Thepaenula
is a cloak with long fringes. The lacerna is afringed
cloak that at one time was worn only by soldiers. For
this reason people used to distinguish the city crowd
from those belonging to military camps by calling the
former ‘toga-wearing’ and the latter ‘lacerna-wearing.’
Whence also the word is lacerna, asifwiththe ends
of the fringes trimmed (cf. lacer, “mutilated, torn”), so
that their fringes are not as long as those in a paenula. 15.
The Spaniards called the mantum thus because it covers
the ‘hands only’ (manus tantum), for it is a short
cloak. 16. Thepraetexta is a child’s cloak, which noble
boys used to wear while they were being educated until
they were sixteen, whence they were called ‘praetextawearing’
boys. It is called a praetexta because it would
be bordered (praetexere)withawidepurple band.
17. The casula is a hooded garment, named as a
diminutive of ‘hut’ (casa), because it covers the whole
person, like a small hut. Whence also the ‘hood’
(cuculla), as if it were a smaller chamber (cella). Thus
it is also called a planetas in Greek, because they sway
with ‘wandering’ (cf. , “wanderer”) borders.
Whence also the astral ‘planets,’ that is, the roving ones,
18 Isidore alludes to I Corinthians 11:3–7, and takes the term mavors
for ‘veil’ as the figure of the martial male (mas,gen.maris)orhusband
(maritus) ashead(orover the head) of his wife.
The Etymologies XIX.xxiv.10–xxv.7 387
because they course about in their own erratic straying
and motion. 18. Birrus (i.e. a rain cloak) is taken from
aGreekword, for they say a birrus as bibrus (cf.
,“cloak”). 19.Themelotes,which is also called a pera
(lit. “bag”), is the skin of a goat which hangs from the
neck and covers as far as the loins. Strictly speaking, this
is the outfit needed for laboring. It was first made, as
some people think, from the skins of martens (melo,i.e.
meles), whence they are called melotes. 20.Thefringes of
garments, that is, the edges, are called the border (ora),
derived from a Greek word, for the Greeks call a border
.
xxv. Women’s outer garments (De palliis feminarum)
1.Theregillum is the mantle of state for queens (regina),
whence it is named. The peplum is a matron’s garment
marked with purple, whose hem glitters at the edge with
gold threads. 2. Thepalla is a woman’s garment that is
asquarecloak (pallium). It hangs down to the feet and
has gemstones fixed in a row. And it is called palla from
the word (“sway”), that is, from the movement
that occurs around the edge of such clothing, or because
as it sways it ripples in fluttering folds. 3. Thestola is a
matron’s garment that, covering the head and shoulders,
is ‘sent’ from the right side over the left shoulder. Furthermore,
it is called stola,with a Greek word (i.e. ,
“robe”; cf. , “send”), because it is ‘sent out on
top.’ 4. Thisisalso called by the Latin term ricinium
(i.e. ‘veil’) because half of it is flung back (reicere). People
commonly call it a mavors (lit. the archaic name for
Mars; cf. ,“veil, headdress”). It is called mavors
as if the term were Mars,for it possesses the mark of marital
(maritalis)dignity and authority, for man is the head
of woman, whence this garment is worn over a woman’s
head. 18
5. Theamiculum is the linen cloak of prostitutes. In
ancient times, married women caught in adultery were
clothed in these so they might sully their virtue in this
amiculum rather than in a stola.Thusamong the ancients
this garment was a mark of prostitution, but nowadays in
Spain it is a mark of respectability. 6.Thetheristrum is a
veil with which the women of Arabia and Mesopotamia
are covered even today; in the heat they are very well
protected by its shade. Isaiah (3:23) speaksconcerning
it. 7. Theanaboladium is a linen cloak for women that
covers their shoulders. Greek (cf. , “linen veil”)
and Latin speakers call it a sindon.