Latin Lexicon of Textiles: Clothes, adornments, materials and techniques of Ancient Rome 9781407358444, 9781407358451

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Latin Lexicon of Textiles Clothes, adornments, materials and techniques of Ancient Rome

ELENA MIRAMONTES SEIJAS

B A R I N T E R NAT I O NA L S E R I E S 3 0 5 1

2021

Latin Lexicon of Textiles Clothes, adornments, materials and techniques of Ancient Rome

ELENA MIRAMONTES SEIJAS

B A R I N T E R NAT I O NA L S E R I E S 3 0 5 1

2021

Published in 2021 by BAR Publishing, Oxford BAR International Series 3051 Latin Lexicon of Textiles ISBN  978 1 4073 5844 4 paperback ISBN  978 1 4073 5845 1 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407358444 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library © Elena Miramontes Seijas 2021 Cover image  Bronze statue of a camillus (acolyte). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Henry G. Marquand, 1897. www.metmuseum.org. The Author’s moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced, stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or transmitted in  any form digitally, without the written permission of the Publisher. Links to third party websites are provided by BAR Publishing in good faith and for information only. BAR Publishing disclaims any responsibility for the materials contained in any third party website referenced in this work.

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Contents List of abbreviations.......................................................................................................................................................... vi Introduction......................................................................................................................................................................... 1 Lexicon in alphabetical order............................................................................................................................................ 3 Glossaries, Indexes and Bibliography........................................................................................................................... 187 Thematic classification of terms.................................................................................................................................... 189 English-Latin glossary.................................................................................................................................................... 205 Greek-Latin glossary...................................................................................................................................................... 215 Index of authors.............................................................................................................................................................. 227 Databases and dictionaries............................................................................................................................................. 233 Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................................... 235

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List of abbreviations adj.

adjective

indecl.

indeclinable

adv.

adverb

lit.

literally

dim.

diminutive

masc.

masculine

ex.

example

metaph.

metaphorically

fem.

feminine

meton.

metonymy

frg.

fragmenta

n.

neuter

G.

Genitive

praef.

preface

Gr.

Greek

ref.

references

IE

Indo-European

vi

Introduction The main aim of this lexicon is to collect all Latin terms relating to textiles, clothes and adornments, broadly understood, as well as to the materials, tools and techniques that made them all possible. In order to collect as many words as possible and to offer a complete guide to the evolution of Roman fashion, terms and texts have been consulted dating from the 3rd century BC to the 4th century AD, when the decay and division of the Empire had become clear (some later texts, like those of Isidore of Seville, for instance, have been consulted when necessary, in order to define and describe certain obscure words).

Segura Munguía, S. (2013) and De Vaan, M. (2008) served as the main references. For more details on sources, please refer to the bibliography at the end of this volume.

All sorts of textual remains, together with archaeological studies, have been analysed in the creation of the lexicon, considering all provinces of the Empire as part of the “Roman world”. Some of the peoples either forming part of the Empire or living as their neighbours are studied on their own, in an attempt to describe those clothes, trends and products that were imported to the Roman world or even adopted by the elites in the city. Words are presented in alphabetical order, after a preliminary section defining certain terms, commonly used by scholars or attested through archaeological remains, that have, nonetheless, not been found in Latin sources. Each entry offers morphological information on the term, its etymology, when it is attested and its closest translation to Ancient Greek. The word is then defined and described, before a series of examples taken from ancient texts and references to modern bibliography, where appropriate. After the main lexicon, terms are classified by topic. This is followed by two glossaries, making it possible to track a word from English or Ancient Greek into Latin. At the head of these, under the sign *, Latin words with no direct translation to either language are presented. In researching the definition and relevant examples for each entry, the databases of Brepolis and Perseus, alongside the Forcellini and Lewis & Short dictionaries, Daremberg, C.V. & Saglio, E. (1873) and the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae have been consulted. Similarly, Lexilogos and the Liddell & Scott lexicon have been used for tracing the Greek translation of each term. For the consultation of epigraphic sources, the Clauss/Slaby Epigraphik-Datenbank and the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum were the main sources of information, together with the online database of the Oxyrhynchus papyri and L’Année Philologique in order to search for modern sources. For the etymology of words, the dictionaries by

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Lexicon in alphabetical order

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Terms not attested in texts lamé: type of weave or knit, made with very thin laces of a metallic fibre, usually gold or silver. According to tradition, the Romans were already using it during the monarchy, although archaeology shows heavy clothes decorated with gold appliqués instead, which looked as if woven in gold (cf. Sebesta, J.L., 1994b, p. 66).

This section collects a series of terms, referring to techniques and materials used in Roman times, attested through archaeology or conventionally used by Latinists, despite not being found in ancient texts: appliqué: pieces of different material, cut into various shapes and sewn on to a bigger piece of cloth, for decoration. This technique, already used by the Etruscans, was a simple method for incorporating beads, chains and gold into a garment.

samite: silk cloth, interwoven with threads of gold or silver. selvedge: edge of a weave, finished in such a way that it is kept from fraying. It is usually a wider edge, woven with thicker thread and sometimes using different techniques from those used in the main body of the cloth.

arms eye: opening in the cloth to allow the introduction of the arm. Although classical fashion was based on wrapping clothes, with little or no pattern design, this opening was still necessary in garments such as tunics.

sprang: open weave, made by intertwining and twisting the threads with each other, in order to create patterns and figures. Although no term for this technique is attested in Latin, it is mentioned in Greek texts: πλέκειν.

batik or wax printing: dyeing technique which consists in painting a pattern in wax on to a piece of cloth before immersing it in the dye. After the colour bath, the wax is removed, leaving the cloth underneath with its original colour. It is now considered a very ancient technique, and was probably used in Rome as well.

tabby: basic type of weave, based on passing the thread of the warp over and under the weft alternately. Depending on how it is made, it can be either balanced (showing weft and warp equally) or weft-oriented (hiding the warp threads) and either open (leaving small holes between threads), or close and thick.

bead: small piece of crystal, wood, metal or other material, sometimes coloured, used to decorate jewels and garments. It was used in all regions from archaic times. The Etruscans used beads frequently to decorate their clothes instead of using embroidery, which was unknown to them.

tablet weaving: type of weave made on a small hand loom in the form of a tablet. This is the most practical method of weaving geometrical patterns and ornamental cloth borders. Although its use has not been attested either in texts or in material remains from the Greco-Roman world, some terracotta tools from Etruria and other European regions suggest its use.

Coptic stitch: type of nailbinding, a predecessor of knitting, associated by archaeologists with Coptic regions, due to the remains found in Egypt, showing socks and gloves woven with this technique. crimped: section of weave where threads are twisted to create a curly look.

tablion (cf. Stout, A.M., 1994): rectangle woven into a garment for decoration, sometimes with interwoven, embroidered or samite images inside.

damask: strong cloth (in linen, cotton or silk), woven in samite, in simple patterns, on a floor loom.

twill: type of weave where filling threads are passed over one and under two or more threads in the weft to create diagonal lines.

hem: small section of cloth, at the edge of a garment, folded to the inside and sewn to achieve an even end and avoid fraying. It seems that the most ancient clothes were woven with selvedge, but when garments become more complex and require cut pieces of cloth to be sewn on to the body, the use of selvedge becomes more costly, requiring the use of hems. lacuna fullonica (cf. fullo): expression used by scholars (cf. Tesserras, J.J. 2000) to denote the pools used by fullers to wash clothes.

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A abolla-ae (fem.): (