cowl

cowl¹ monk's hood

Etymology

The word for the monk's hood is inherited from Middle English coule,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English cugele, also cugle, cuhle and cūle,^[5][6][7] borrowed from Late Latin cuculla (“monk's cowl”),^[4][7][3][8] a variant of Latin cucullus (“hood of a cloak”).^[7][3][6][9] The OED counts it among the words inherited from Germanic: the Old English word is cognate with Old High German cucula and cugula, German Kugel and Kogel, all from the ecclesiastical Latin word.^[6][9][10] Old English also had cufle, cognate with Middle Dutch covele, Dutch keuvel and Old Norse kofl, whose history the OED calls obscure; it may be the source of Middle English kuuele and couel.^[6][9] The Middle English word was probably also reinforced by Old French coule,^[9][10][2] recorded in Anglo-Norman from 1160–74 for a monk's hooded garment.^[11] The origin of cucullus is uncertain;^[7][3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and Partridge think it probably Celtic,^[12][13] and Klein, Gaulish, comparing Latin bardocucullus (“a Gaulish woollen overcoat with a hood”).^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hooded garment worn by monks: about 961, in Æthelwold's version of the Rule of St Benedict, where the Old English renders Latin cuculla.^[15][6][5] Barnhart finds the Middle English form cule probably before 1200, in Laȝamon's chronicle of Britain,^[7] and the Middle English Dictionary quotes couel from Havelok (about 1300).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word could mean a cloak in general as well as a monk's or nun's hooded garment.^[2] From 1580 it was used of the hood alone,^[6] from 1653 as the sign of monastic life, or for a monk himself,^[6][12] and by 1658 in transferred and figurative senses.^[6] Johnson (1755) quoted Pope: "What differ more, you cry, than crown and cowl?"^[16] By 1812 a cowl was also a hood-shaped cover on a chimney or ventilating shaft, built to turn with the wind and help the draught,^[6][3][9] and by 1891 a wire cage on a locomotive's funnel.^[6] From the chimney cover came cowling, the removable cover of an aircraft engine (1917),^[3][7] and the word was also applied to the part of a car body that supports the windscreen.^[17][18] The verb, to put a cowl on or make a monk of, is recorded from 1536, in Latimer.^[6][12][7] In Scotland a cowl was a nightcap or close cap worn indoors.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 961 – a hooded garment worn by monks.^[15][6]
• before 1200 – the Middle English form cule, in Laȝamon.^[7]
• 1536 – verb, to put a cowl on; to make a monk of.^[6][12]
• 1580 – the hood of such a garment.^[6]
• 1653 – the sign of monkhood; a monk.^[6]
• 1810 – verb, to cover as with a hood.^[6]
• 1812 – a hood-shaped cover on a chimney or ventilating shaft.^[6][3]
• 1891 – a wire cage on a locomotive's funnel.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hood or long hooded robe, especially one worn by a monk.^[12][18][17]
2. The monastic life, or a monk, as symbolized by this garment.^[12][6]
3. A draped neckline on a woman's garment.^[18][12]
4. A hood-shaped cover on a chimney or ventilating shaft, meant to improve the draught.^[18][17][6]
5. The part of a car body that supports the windscreen and dashboard.^[18][17]
6. A cowling.^[18][17]

Verb

1. To cover with a cowl, or as if with one: Mist cowled the hilltops.^{[12][18][17][6]}
2. To make a monk of.^[12][17][6]

Word family

• cowlneck
• cowling

cowl² tub, vessel

Etymology

The word for the tub is inherited from Middle English covel, also cuvel and coule,^[2] inherited from Old English cȳfel, also cūfel.^[12][5][20] Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the Shorter Oxford take it as apparently borrowed from Old French cuvele (“small vat”),^[12][10] while the Middle English Dictionary sets the Old English plural cūflan beside cuvel, both ultimately from Latin.^[2] The Anglo-Norman cuvel, a vat or tub, is recorded from 1396.^[11] The French word is from Late Latin cūpella,^[12][10][14] a diminutive of Latin cūpa (“tub, cask”),^[12][14][20] the source of cup.^[14] Bosworth–Toller compares German Kübel (“tub, bucket”).^[5][20]

Earliest recorded meaning

A tub or large vessel for water: about 1250 in the OED.^[15] The Middle English Dictionary's first quotation is from Robert of Gloucester's chronicle (copied about 1325), where fish are brought "in lepes & in coufles".^[2]

Semantic evolution

The typical cowl had two handles or ears, so that two people could carry it on a pole, the cowlstaff or cowl-tree (about 1450).^[15][10][2] The word was also used of a liquid measure (1467) and of a cup (about 1450), both obsolete.^[15] Johnson (1755) defined it as a vessel in which water is carried on a pole between two people.^[16] It is now archaic and dialectal:^[10][12] in Wright's English Dialect Dictionary it is a tub or barrel, swung on a pole or set on wheels, for carrying pigs' wash or liquid manure, in counties from Northumberland to Kent and Cornwall, and in Gloucestershire and Devon a cask in which beer or milk was cooled.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1250 – a tub or large vessel, especially one with two handles.^[15]
• c. 1450 – a cup (obsolete); cowl-tree, a cowlstaff.^[15]
• 1467 – a liquid measure (obsolete).^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, dialect) A large tub or vessel, especially one with two handles, carried on a pole by two people.^[12][10][16]

Word family

• cowlstaff