claþ

Forms

clāþ n or m (strong a-stem; genitive singular clāþes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *klaiþ, from Proto-Germanic *klaiþą (“cloth”).^[1][2] Its cognates are Old Frisian klāth, Dutch kleed and Middle High German kleit.^[2][3] Kroonen holds that Old Norse klæði (“cloth, garment”) was borrowed from West Germanic, and that Icelandic klíð “piece of woven fabric” is truly related.^[2]

The noun is often compared with clīþan (“to stick, adhere”);^[3][4][2] Holthausen gives the link with a query, Köbler with the root Proto-Indo-European *gleit-, but Kroonen finds the meanings hard to reconcile and leaves the origin open.^[3][4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897), where the physician hides his lancet under his claðum “under his clothes” until he cuts the patient.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word names a piece of cloth used for wrapping or covering, and in the plural, clothes.^[7] The medical texts tell the reader to lay a remedy on a cloth or wring it through one, and the Gospels use it of the linen in which Christ's body was wound.^[7] Toller's Supplement adds the sense “garment”, and the phrase under Crístes cláðum of a man who died still in his baptismal robes, from the Chronicle for 688.^[8] Holthausen and Köbler also give “sail”.^[3][4] Many compounds name a cloth by its use: hēafodclāþ, bordclāþ, bedclāþ.^[7][8]

The singular lived on as Middle English cloth and the plural as clothes; in the nineteenth century cloth took a new plural cloths, which kept the plural of the old word apart.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 890×897 – under his claðum “under his clothes” in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[5][6]
• s. x med. – wæpnu & mete & ealo & claðas “weapons, food, ale and clothes” in the Old English Boethius.^[11][7]
• s. x med. – do on claþ “put on a cloth” in Bald's Leechbook.^[12][7]
• s. x³/⁴ – in the Old English gloss of the Lindisfarne Gospels (Mark).^[13][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. a cloth, a piece of woven stuff; a covering.^[7][4]
2. a garment; in the plural, clothes.^[7][8]
3. a sail.^[3][4]

Word family

• hēafodclāþ
• bordclāþ
• bēodclāþ
• bedclāþ
• eaxlclāþ
• swātclāþ
• sārclāþ

Descendants

• Middle English clath (→ Scots clathe; Scots claith; Scots clathes)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 290
3. ^ a b c d e Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 51
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. clāþ
5. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
6. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
7. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 158
8. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 127
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
11. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 296
12. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 412
13. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 291