drap

Forms

drap m (plural draps)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin drappus (“cloth; rag”), a word not found in Classical Latin and first recorded in the 6th century.^[2][3][4][1]

The same Late Latin word is Occitan drap, French drap, Italian drappo, Spanish trapo and Portuguese trapo.^[5][1] Spanish and Portuguese changed the initial /d/ to /t/ because no truly Latin word began with ⟨dr-⟩.^[6][7]

The origin of the Late Latin word is uncertain.^[1] Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC take it to be pre-Roman, probably Indo-European but not Celtic.^[2][3][4] Meyer-Lübke calls it Gaulish, and the DLE says it is pre-Roman and perhaps Celtic.^[5][8] Wiktionary considers a borrowing from *drāpi.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Coromines gives as the first record a document of 985 in the cartulary of Sant Cugat, practically written in Catalan with Latinised endings: lito uno de drapos cum suo cuxino “a bed of cloths with its cushion”.^[2] In Llull's Llibre de Santa Maria (1272) a weeping woman tears her draps, her clothes.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the early documents drap is above all a cloth of trade: a garment de drap de arraz “of Arras cloth” in the Penedès in 1187, drap de li “linen cloth” in the Roussillon tolls of 1249 and 1284, and in the brokers' tariff of Barcelona of 1271 cloths of Flanders, England, Narbonne, Lleida and Valencia.^[2][10] Medieval texts also use it for a cloth to bind a wound (1395) and for the sheets of a bed.^[9]

The DCVB records the senses “hemp or linen cloth for sheets and underwear”, “a piece of cloth for lowly uses”, the swaddling cloths of a baby, in the plural its nappies, and the sails of a ship or a windmill.^[11] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 defines drap first as woollen cloth, felted and sheared so that its threads are not seen, and names the cloths of Sabadell and Terrassa.^[12]

Derivatives: draper “cloth merchant” in 1250, endrapar in 1362, drapada in 1448, drapet in 1515 and drapaire “rag-and-bone man” in 1803.^[3]

Timeline

• 985 – drapos in a document of the cartulary of Sant Cugat.^[2]
• 1187 – drap de arraz in a document of the Penedès.^[2]
• 1249 – drap de li in a Roussillon toll list.^[2]
• 1271 – the brokers' tariff of Barcelona lists cloths by origin.^[2]
• 1272 – Llull, Llibre de Santa Maria: sos draps rompia.^[9]
• 1803 – drapaire first recorded.^[3]
• 1932 – Fabra's dictionary defines drap as woollen cloth.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. cloth, fabric, especially a woollen cloth felted and sheared so that the threads cannot be seen.^[13][4][1]
2. Fabric woven with a given thread, as drap d'or “cloth of gold”.^[13]
3. A piece of cloth used for cleaning; a rag, a duster: Passa un drap humit per la taula.^[13][4][1]
4. A remnant or scrap of fabric.^[13]
5. (dialectal) A baby's nappy.^[4][11]
6. (nautical) A ship's sail.^[4][11]

Word family

• drapada
• drapaire
• drapar
• drapejat
• draper
• draperia
• drapet
• endrapar

Related words

• Late Latin drappus
• Spanish trapo
• French drap

Usage notes

Set phrases: deixar algú com un drap brut “to heap insults on someone”, treure els drapets al sol “to air someone's faults”, and colloquially a tot drap “at full speed”.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 197
3. ^ a b c d Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 297
4. ^ a b c d e f Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. drap
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. trapo
7. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 604
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. trapo
9. ^ a b c Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. drap
10. ^ Gual Camarena, Miguel, Vocabulario del comercio medieval, online edition, Universidad de Murcia, https://www.um.es/lexico-comercio-medieval, p. s.v. drap
11. ^ a b c Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. drap
12. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. drap
13. ^ a b c d e Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. drap