casula

Forms

casula f (genitive casulae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin casa (“hut, cottage”) + -ula, a diminutive.^[2][1][3] De Vaan finds the origin of casa unclear: Walde and Hofmann explain it as a dialectal form of Proto-Italic *kat-ja, from a root meaning “to plait”, and a link with European words for a hut or chamber such as Avestan kata- (“chamber”) is also possible, but its /a/ and its single /s/ after a short vowel make a loanword more likely.^[4]

Isidore of Seville explained the garment of this name as a “little house”, because it covers the whole person.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is the Moretum,^[6] where a garden adjoins the little cottage: hortus erat iūnctus casulae.^[3] The sense is a small or humble cottage.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the first two centuries AD the TLL finds it only in Petronius and Juvenal.^[3] In Petronius it names a poor man's cottages, which a speaker threatens to sell if the price of corn stays high, and a small country property, and once a tomb.^[3][7][8]

By about 400 it was used of an outer garment, because hooded garments suggested little houses:^[9] Augustine uses it of a cloak,^[10][11][8] and Isidore of a hooded garment.^[10][5] Gregory of Tours has the by-form casubla.^[10] In medieval Latin it named an outbuilding, a small pagan shrine, a monk's cell, a cape or hooded cloak, a monk's cowl and the priest's chasuble;^[12][5] a council of 743 glosses casulae as pagan shrines.^[5] English took the vestment from Old French, which had it from medieval Latin casubla.^[9]

Timeline

• 2nd half of the 1st century BC – The Moretum uses it of a small cottage beside a garden.^[3][6]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of small houses, a little farm and a tomb.^[7][8][6]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of a cottage.^[7][11][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of a cloak.^[10][8][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville describes it as a hooded garment.^[10][5][6]
• 743 – A council glosses casulae as pagan shrines.^[5]
• c. 1300 – English has the vestment as cheisible, from Old French.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small or humble cottage, a hut.^[2][7]
2. (plural) A small country property.^[10][8]
3. A tomb.^[7][11]
4. (Late Latin) A cloak, a hooded outer garment.^[10][11][9]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A chasuble.^[13][12]
6. (Medieval Latin) An outbuilding; a small pagan shrine; a monk's cell.^[12][5]
7. (Medieval Latin) A cape or hooded cloak; a monk's cowl.^[12]

Related words

• casellula
• casella
• casa
• English chasuble

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
11. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
12. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson