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pallium

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pallium

Confidence
Unknown
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpal.li.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpal.li.um][1]

Forms

pallium n (genitive palliī or pallī); second declension[1] It is often spelled palleum in inscriptions and manuscripts, which the grammarian Charisius rejects.[2]

Etymology

It is related to palla (“a woman's mantle”), but its further origin is unknown.[3][2][1] De Vaan finds no etymology for ⟨palla⟩: it could go back to a form such as ⟨*pHl-n-⟩, or have the full grade seen in pellis (“skin”), but it may well be a loanword.[4] Köbler compares a root Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover”).[5]

Isidore of Seville explained it from ⟨pellis⟩, since people once wore skins over their clothes, or from ⟨palla⟩.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “shake out your cloak” in the Aulularia;[3] Köbler gives Naevius.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a rectangular cloth worn draped as an outer garment, mainly by men, the Greek himation, and so the typical Greek dress, as Cicero's Verres at women's dinner parties in a purple cloak and a long tunic.[3][6] It is also a bed cover or other covering, as in Varro, Ovid and Juvenal.[3][6] Etymonline notes that in Tertullian it is the garment Christians wore instead of the toga.[7]

In Church Latin it is a cloth or garment, an altar cover and a cloak, and the archbishop's pallium, a band of white wool with two hanging strips worn over the shoulders.[8] Medieval Latin also uses it of a monk's habit, a nun's veil and a liturgical cope.[9] Old English took it as pæll, whence English pall.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a cloak.[3][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of coverlets.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a Greek purple cloak.[3][5]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian of the Christians' cloak.[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A cloak, a Greek mantle.[3][6][1][8]
  2. A bed cover, coverlet, covering.[3][6][1]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) An altar cloth; the archbishop's pallium.[8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A monk's habit; a nun's veil; a liturgical cope.[9]

Word family

  • palliastrum
  • palliātus
  • palliō
  • palliolum
  • tunicopallium
  • palliolātim
  • palliolātus
  • palla
  • English pall

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
Cite this entry

“Pallium.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pallium. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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