chapel English · revision 13291

− It is Middle English chapele, [[bor|fro|chapele]] (modern French chapelle),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from Medieval Latin cappella, a chapel, sanctuary for relics, canopy, literally a little cape, a diminutive of Late Latin cappa, cape (see [[cape]], [[cap]]).^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) By tradition the first chapel was the sanctuary where the Frankish kings kept the cloak of St Martin of Tours, which he had cut in half to share with a beggar;^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)^(Barnhart 1988) the other theory is that capella meant a canopy over the altar.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) The word spread to most European languages, as German Kapelle and Italian cappella.^(Etymonline)