chal

Forms

chal m (plural chales)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French châle, which is from Hindi शाल (śāl), itself from Persian شال (šāl).^[2][3][4][1] Corominas notes that French travellers' accounts use the word often from 1666, for a cloth made in Kashmir, and that the French may have taken it either from the Indian language of that region or straight from Persian, which was then widely used at the courts of India.^[5] French wrote it chalou in 1663 and scial in 1665 before settling on the modern spelling in 1670.^[6]

The word reached the other languages of western Europe through French, except English shawl, which comes directly from Persian.^[5] The English word in turn gave chaul (“a Chinese silk fabric”), in the Academy's dictionary by 1843.^[5] The same French word gave Catalan xal and Italian scialle, and Portuguese xale, also written xaile.^[7][8]

Older Spanish etymologists traced the word to a Persian name for a blanket worn by dervishes; the Academy gave that explanation in 1899.^[9][10] Eguílaz connected the Persian word with a Sanskrit word for a garment, a view no later source repeats.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1775, in Miguel Terracina's Spanish translation of the Histoire générale des voyages, in the passage that explains the name from the shawls of Kashmir: long pieces of fine wool, embroidered at both ends, which men and women of the Mughal lands wore on their heads or over the shoulder in winter.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century the word named an oriental garment; later records show the shawl taken up in European dress, with changes of material.^[4] By 1781 it appears in Mexico (envié el chal a Carrete, “I sent the shawl to Carrete”), and in 1816 a Mexican text describes a woman con túnico (...) y su chal de punto blanco “in a tunic and her white knitted shawl”.^[12] The Academy entered it in 1843 as a loose mantelet worn by women, as wide at the ends as in the middle.^[13] Gaspar y Roig in 1853 added the chales de Cachemira, made from the hair of a particular breed of goat.^[14] In 1917 Alemany also recorded the oriental garment worn by both sexes as a turban, sash or cape.^[15] Today the DLE no longer says that the shawl is worn by women, as the 2001 edition did.^[2][16] Moliner and Vox also give a knitted wool shawl for wrapping babies.^[17][18]

Timeline

• 1663 – French records the word as chalou, and châle becomes the usual spelling in 1670.^[6]
• 1775 – first record in Spanish, in a translation of the Histoire générale des voyages.^[4]
• 1781 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico.^[12]
• 1832 – Corominas's first date for the word.^[3]
• 1843 – first in the Academy's dictionary, which also has chaul, from English.^[5][13]
• 1884 – the derivative chalina enters the Academy's dictionary.^[3][5]
• 1899 – the Academy gives a Persian etymology for the first time.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shawl: a piece of silk or wool cloth, much longer than it is wide, worn over the shoulders for warmth or as an ornament: Se echó un chal de seda antes de salir.^[2][1]
2. A knitted wool shawl used to wrap a baby.^[18][17]

Word family

• chalina

Related words

• French châle
• English shawl

Usage notes

The plural is chales.^[1] The derivative chalina is a cravat with long ends in Spain and, in the Americas, a narrow shawl.^[19] Corominas notes a kind of scarf in Mendoza, Argentina.^[19][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. chal
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. chal
4. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. chal
5. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 312
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. châle
7. ^ Corriente, Federico; Pereira, Christophe; Vicente, Ángeles (2019), Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans: emprunts à l'arabe et aux langues du monde islamique (Encyclopédie linguistique d'Al-Andalus 3), Berlin: De Gruyter, p. s.v. chal
8. ^ Corriente, Federico (1999), Diccionario de arabismos y voces afines en iberorromance, Madrid: Gredos, p. 284
9. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 576
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 301
11. ^ Eguílaz y Yanguas, Leopoldo de (1886), Glosario etimológico de las palabras españolas (castellanas, catalanas, gallegas, mallorquinas, portuguesas, valencianas y bascongadas) de origen oriental, Granada: La Lealtad, p. 396
12. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. chal
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 219
14. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 708
15. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 503
16. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. chal
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. chal
18. ^ a b Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. chal
19. ^ a b 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. chalina