faldistolium

Forms

faldistōlium n (genitive faldistōliī or faldistōlī); second declension^[1] Medieval spellings include ⟨faldistorium⟩, ⟨faldestolium⟩, ⟨faudestolium⟩ and ⟨faltestalium⟩.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *faldistōl (“folding stool, folding chair”).^[1][4] The MLW compares Old High German faldistuol and Köbler faldilstuol (“folding chair, seat of office”), which he traces to Proto-Germanic *faldistōlaz (“folding chair”).^[3][2] The DMLBS gives the Anglo-Norman and Old French forms Anglo-Norman faldestol and Old French faudestuel.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the Gesta Berengarii, a poem on the emperor Berengar: a gloss there explains the poet's Greek cliothedrum as a folding seat “which is commonly called ualdestuolum”.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a folding chair of state, used by bishops, kings and emperors.^[4][3][5] Romuald of Salerno writes that the pope sat down again in his faldstool, and in an imperial coronation order the emperor mounts the faldistorium.^[3] Saba Malaspina has the king send on the emperor's faldstool, the imperial seat.^[3] In England an inventory of 1222 lists two small cloths for one, and the deeds of the abbots of St Albans speak of a chair “which we commonly call faudestola”.^[5]

In church it was the bishop's seat: a Hungarian order has the bishop sit in the faldistōrium while the choir reads the psalms,^[7] and in Polish sources the metropolitan sits on it in front of the altar.^[8] The MLW also gives a doubtful sense, a stand on which the Gospel book was set.^[3] It is the source of French fauteuil (“armchair”) and of Italian and Spanish faldistorio,^[4][1] and English borrowed it as faldstool.^[1]

Timeline

• 915–924 – A gloss in the Gesta Berengarii calls it the common word for a folding seat.^[3][2]
• c. 1100 – Leo Marsicanus mentions a cloth for the faldstool.^[3][2]
• second half of the 12th century – Romuald of Salerno writes of the pope's faldstool.^[3][2]
• 1222 – An English inventory lists cloths for a faldstool.^[5]
• 1512 – A Polish source has the metropolitan sit on it before the altar.^[8]
• c. 1550 – An Aberdeen register lists a new stool or faldstool for the bishop.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A folding chair; a chair of state, a bishop's, king's or emperor's throne, a faldstool.^[4][3][2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A bishop's seat in church, set before the altar.^[7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) Perhaps a lectern for the Gospel book.^[3]

Related words

• English faldstool

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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
6. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
8. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl