tela

Forms

tela f (plural teles)^[1] Although the Latin vowel was /eː/, the word is pronounced with open /ɛ/ in eastern, western and Valencian Catalan, like other words where /l/ follows, and with /ə/ in the Balearic Islands.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Catalan tela, which is inherited from Latin tēla (“cloth, web”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin noun is an old derivative of texō (“to weave”), through a form ⟨texla⟩.^[2][5] Wiktionary gives the Proto-Italic form *tekslā.^[1]

The word is kept in all the Romance languages: Italian tela, French toile, Occitan tela, Spanish tela and Portuguese teia.^[6][2] Catalan teixir continues the verb.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record Coromines gives is the toll tariff of Cotlliure of 1249, which charges two sous and two diners for a load of teles.^[2] The Llibre dels fets of James I speaks of things made of better cloth (meylor tela), and Llull of the new cloth in which Christ was buried.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The word has been used in every period and form of the language.^[2] By extension it named membranes of the animal body: Bernat Metge's Lo somni has the tela de cabrit among the repulsive materials of the bath, and a vocabulary of 1507 the tela del cor, the diaphragm.^[2] Medieval texts also use it for the cataract of the eye, a net for catching birds and a fishing net;^[8] Sant Vicent Ferrer contrasts spiders' webs with fishermen's nets.^[8] In the Pyrenean rivers teles are still fishing nets.^[2]

In inventories a tela is each width of cloth sewn together to make a sheet.^[8] Fabra (1932) adds the painting on canvas, the barrier of the old tournaments, tela metàl·lica and the figurative haver-hi molta tela per tallar.^[9] Derivatives include telada (1652) and teler.^[2]

Timeline

• 1249 – teles in the toll tariff of Cotlliure.^[2]
• 13th century – the Llibre dels fets of James I and Llull.^[7][2]
• 1261–1271 – the Furs de València, the first record in the CICA corpus.^[10]
• 1381 – Bernat Metge uses tela for a membrane.^[2]
• 1507 – tela del cor “diaphragm” in a Latin–Catalan vocabulary.^[2]
• 1932 – Fabra gives tela for a painting on canvas.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. cloth, fabric, especially of linen or hemp: Necessito tres metres de tela per a les cortines.^[11][4][1]
2. A piece of cloth, especially one complete for its purpose, such as the cover of a mattress.^[4][3]
3. canvas for painting; a painting on canvas.^[11][4][1]
4. A sheet of interwoven threads of some other material: tela metàl·lica, wire mesh.^[11][12]
5. A membrane of an animal or plant organ; a spider's web, teranyina.^[3][4]
6. A net for fishing in rivers or for catching birds.^[3]
7. haver-hi molta tela per tallar: to be a great deal to deal with or talk about;^[11] tela de Penèlope, a task that is endlessly done and undone.^[11]

Word family

• teler
• teleria
• teranyina
• telada

Related words

• teixir
• tel
• teló
• Latin tēla
• French toile

Usage notes

The tela of medieval tournaments, the barrier or enclosure along which the knights rode, is treated by Coromines, Bruguera and the GDLC as a separate word, probably Latin tēla, plural of tēlum “dart, javelin”, applied to a row of stakes or a palisade.^[13][14][4] Coromines dates it to 1397 and Bruguera to Metge in the 14th century, but Faraudo quotes it from Muntaner's chronicle (1325); the DCVB takes it as an enclosure made of cloth, a sense of this word.^{[13][14][8][3]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. 8, 374
3. ^ a b c d e Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. tela
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. tela
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. tēla
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8620
7. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. tela
8. ^ a b c d Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. tela
9. ^ a b Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. tela
10. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. tela
11. ^ 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. tela
12. ^ Institut d'Estudis Catalans, Diccionari essencial de la llengua catalana (DEIEC), online, https://deiec.iec.cat, p. s.v. tela
13. ^ a b 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. 8, 378
14. ^ a b Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 885