Etymologically
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mantellum

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Forms

mantellum n[1] Also mantēlum.[2]

Etymology

The OLD compares it with mantica “knapsack”, and Köbler connects it with ⟨mantum⟩ “cloak”.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot cites Plautus' Captivi, figuratively of a veil or cover.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It was a cloak or mantle, and figuratively, as in Plautus, a cover, a veil, and Lucilius and Festus have mantēlum “a towel”.[3][2]

In British Medieval Latin it was a mantle, a cloak, of various materials and colours, mantellum ferreum was armour, and mantellum vertere was to turn one's coat, to change sides.[5] It was borrowed early into Old English as mentel, the source of English mantle, and into Old High German mantal, and Italian mantello continues it.[6][4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it figuratively.[2][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it.[4]
  • 1195 – a royal charter in England uses it of a cloak.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cloak, mantle.[3][5]
  2. (figurative) A cover, veil.[2]
  3. A towel.[2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c 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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com