palliolum

Forms

palliolum n (genitive palliolī); second declension^[1] Also spelled paliolum and paleolum in manuscripts and glossaries.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin pallium (“cloak, mantle”) + -olum, a colloquial diminutive.^[3][2][1] De Vaan lists pallium among the derivatives of palla (“mantle”), for which he finds no etymology; it may be a loanword.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL record it from Plautus on.^[5][2] In the Epidicus a character is told palliolum in collum conice, “throw your little cloak round your neck”, and in the Miles gloriosus one is to wear a rust-coloured palliolum fastened on the left shoulder.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was a small Greek mantle, especially the philosopher's.^[6][7] A line of Caecilius quoted by Cicero says that wisdom is often found under a shabby little cloak, sub palliolo sordido.^[6] Varro uses it in describing other garments.^[3]

It also named a covering for the head, a hood: Ovid advises a lover not to think it shameful to put a palliolum on his hair, and Quintilian says that only ill health excuses one, as it does bandages and mufflers.^[6][8][2] Seneca uses it of thin people wrapped in a hood and neckcloth, and Jerome in rules for sick monks.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it was also a small altar-cloth.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a cloak thrown round the neck.^[2][5]
• 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius speaks of wisdom under a shabby palliolum.^[6][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for a covering for the head.^[6][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian says only ill health excuses wearing one.^[6][5]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it in rules for sick monks.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small cloak or mantle of the Greek kind.^[3][6][7]
2. A covering for the head, a hood.^[6][7][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A small altar-cloth.^[9]

Word family

• palliolātim
• palliolātus

Related words

• pallium
• palla

References

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