chape

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃap/^[1]

Forms

chape f (plural chapes)^[1] Old French cape (11th century), chape (about 1131); also spelt chappe in some technical senses.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chape, inherited from Late Latin cappa (“hood; hooded cloak”),^[2][3][4][5] recorded in Gregory of Tours (6th century) and in Isidore (7th century),^[2][4] which came to mean a monk's habit and then the ceremonial vestment of priests and monks.^[2][3] The Petit Robert suggests a link with caput (“head”),^[6] and Littré cites Isidore's explanation from capiō (“to take, contain”).^[7]

Cognate with Italian cappa and Spanish capa.^[4][7] The same Late Latin word gave cape, through Occitan, a doublet of “chape”.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (11th century) has cape for a cleric's choir cope;^[2][8] about 1100 the Chanson de Roland speaks of la cape del ciel, the vault of heaven.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Until the 17th century chape was not clearly distinguished from cape and named various full sleeveless cloaks (about 1131).^[3][4] It kept the religious sense of an ecclesiastical cope (later 13th century), and in chape de plomb, a lead cloak used in torture and now a figure of an oppressive weight.^[3][2] Se battre de la chape à l'évêque “to quarrel over something that belongs to neither party” is recorded in 1585.^[9]

Technical senses followed: a coating in masonry (1403), a domed dish cover (1690), a heraldic division of the shield (1690), and in recent times the casing of a pulley, a concrete screed and the tread of a tyre, whence rechaper “to retread”.^[2][3][6] Its diminutive chaperon dates from about 1131.^[3]

Timeline

• 11th century – Cape in Saint Alexis.^[2]
• c. 1100 – La cape del ciel in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1131 – Chape “full cloak”, chaperon.^[2][3]
• 1403 – A masonry coating.^[2]
• 1585 – Se débattre de la chappe à l'évesque.^[9]
• 1690 – A heraldic term, in Furetière.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cope: a long sleeveless ceremonial cloak worn by clergy.^[6][10]
2. Chape de plomb: an oppressive weight.^[6][11]
3. A covering or casing: the tread of a tyre, the casing of a pulley.^[6][1]
4. (building) A screed, a waterproof or levelling layer of concrete.^[6][1]
5. (heraldry) A triangular division of the shield.^[6][2]
6. (archaic) A cape, cloak.^[1][6]

Word family

• chaperon
• rechaper
• chapé

Related words

• chapeau
• chapelle
• échapper
• cape
• English cope

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 269a
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)