laena

Forms

laena f (genitive laenae); first declension^[1] It is often spelled ⟨lena⟩ in manuscripts.^[2]

Etymology

The OLD takes it as borrowed from Ancient Greek χλαῖνα (khlaîna, “cloak”), perhaps passing through Etruscan,^[3][1] and Köbler also refers it to the Greek word, itself a loanword of unknown origin.^[4] The TLL objects that no Greek ⟨χλ-⟩ is known to have become Latin ⟨l-⟩.^[2] Festus already reports that some thought the name Etruscan and some Greek.^[5][2] Varro derived it from lāna (“wool”), because it was made of much wool and was as thick as two togas.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro describes it in the De lingua Latina as a double garment for men, made of much wool,^[2][6] and Cicero has a flamen who comes to an assembly wearing his laena straight from a sacrifice.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It was a thick woollen cloak worn over the toga or pallium.^[6][3] It was the dress of priests, especially the flamens at sacrifice,^[2][5] and was also worn by people of rank: in the Aeneid a laena blazes with Tyrian purple, and Persius and Juvenal have cloaks of hyacinth and scarlet.^[2][6] Martial uses it of a cloak for winter.^[2] Jerome uses it of a harlot's cloak.^[6]

In medieval Latin it meant a blanket or quilt.^[7] The TLL records continuants in old Dalmatian, old Venetian and old Italian.^[2]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro describes it as a double woollen cloak.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions the laena of a flamen at a sacrifice.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil describes a laena of Tyrian purple.^[2][6]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial mentions it as a winter cloak.^[2][6]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of a harlot's cloak.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thick woollen double cloak or mantle, worn over the toga, especially by flamens at sacrifices.^[3][6][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A blanket, quilt.^[7]

Related words

• lāna

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill