camisia
Pronunciation
Forms
camisia f (genitive camisiae); first declension[1] Also camisa, in Venantius Fortunatus and the Salic Law,[2] and many medieval spellings such as camissa and chemisia.[3][4][5] The Romance languages show that the second syllable had a long i.[2]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Proto-West Germanic *hamiþi (“shirt”) in Wiktionary's account,[1] which Köbler and Etymonline take to have come into Latin through Gaulish.[3][6] The TLL calls it a foreign word, perhaps Gaulish or Germanic, and compares Old High German hemidi;[2] Etymonline compares Old English hemeðe, and Lewis and Short simply call it Gallic.[6][7] Wiktionary and Köbler trace the Germanic word to Proto-Indo-European *ḱem- (“to cover”).[1][3]
Isidore of Seville derived it from cama “low bed”, saying that people sleep in it on their beds.[8][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
Jerome (c. 383–419/420 AD) has it in his letters, for a linen garment,[9][10][3] and Etymonline calls it originally a soldiers' word.[6]
Semantic evolution
It meant a linen shirt worn next to the skin, also slept in,[9][7] and Paulus' epitome of Festus mentions it.[7][9] Gregory the Great uses it too,[3] and in church Latin it named the alb.[11][3]
In Medieval Latin it was the usual word for a shirt or undergarment, of laymen, women, monks and clerics, and the shirt of a saint kept as a relic or offered as a gift.[4][5] A papal letter that Bede copied sends a camisia trimmed with gold as a blessing from Saint Peter.[5] Köbler also records the senses “choir robe of the clergy” and “book cover”.[3]
It lives on in Italian camicia, French chemise and Spanish camisa.[7][10][6] Late Old English took it as cemes, and after about 1200 the French form chemise replaced it in English.[6]
Timeline
- c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in his letters.[9][3]
- c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the name from sleeping in bed.[8][3]
- 625 – A papal letter in Bede's history sends a shirt adorned with gold.[5]
- late Old English – Borrowed as cemes “shirt”.[6]
- after c. 1200 – The French form chemise takes over in English.[6]
Meanings
Noun
- (Late Latin) A linen shirt or undergarment worn next to the skin.[9][12][7]
- (Late Latin) A nightgown.[7][1]
- (Ecclesiastical Latin) An alb.[11][1]
- (Medieval Latin) The garment of a monk or cleric; a saint's shirt kept as a relic.[4][5]
- (Medieval Latin) A cover of a book.[3]
Related words
- cama
- English chemise
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
- ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.