which the common people call 'reclinatoria' (head-rests). The 'cervicalia' (pillows) are so named because they are placed under the neck ('cervix') or the elbow. The 'pulvillus' (small cushion) is named from 'pulvinar', which is the couch of the rich. The 'culcitae' (mattresses) are so called because they are trodden down ('calcentur'), that is, stuffed with feathers or padding, so that they may be softer and warmer. The 'tapeta' (carpets) are so called because they were first spread beneath the feet ('pedes'), as if 'tapedia'. The 'sipla' is a carpet shaggy on one part, as if 'simpla' (single). The 'amphitapa' is a carpet shaggy on both sides. Lucilius (13): 'Siplae and amphitapae soft with huge tufts.' The 'mantelia' (napkins) are now for covering tables; which, as the very name indicates, were formerly furnished for wiping the hands ('manus'). The 'mappae' (napkins) are of banquets and of the food set out, as if 'manupae', and named on that account; whose diminutive is 'mapella'.
The 'toralia' are long and continuous cloths, named from the couch ('torus'). The 'sabanum' (towel) is Greek. The 'facietergium' and 'manitergium' are named from wiping ('tergere') the face ('facies') or hands ('manus'). 'Vela' (curtains) are so called because by their interposition they veil ('velent') the interiors of houses. 'Aulaea' are painted and large curtains; which are so called 'aulaea' because they were first invented in the hall ('aula') of Attalus, king of Asia, whom the Roman people succeeded. 'Cortinae' are hangings, that is, curtains, of skins, such as are read of in Exodus, by which the tabernacle was covered on the outside. And they are called 'cortinae' from hides ('corea'), because they had first been made from skins. Whence too in the same tabernacle of the Law it is commanded that curtains be made from the reddened skins of rams and from hyacinth-colored skins.
The Arabs call 'cilicia' the coverings woven from the hairs of goats, from which they make tents for themselves. XXVII. ON WOOLS. Wool ('lana') is named from tearing ('laniare'), that is, from plucking: hence too 'vellus' (fleece) is so called, because formerly wools were plucked ('vellerentur'), not shorn. Flax ('linum') springs from the earth, and its name is bent from the Greek; for the Greeks call flax 'linarion'; or because it is soft and smooth. 'Stuppa' (tow) indeed is of hemp or of flax. This is called 'stuppa' according to the ancient orthography, because with it the chinks of ships are caulked ('stipentur'). Whence too they are called 'stipatores' who arrange it in the hulls. 'Tomentum' (padding) is so named because it swells ('tumeat') either in the thread or in the cloth, and has no fineness. 'Cannabum' (hemp) is named from the likeness of a reed ('canna'), or from a Greek etymology;
for they call hemp 'kannabin'. 'Byssum' is a certain kind of flax, exceedingly white and very soft, which the Greeks call 'papaten'. 'Fibrinum' is the wool of the animals which they call beavers ('fibri'). They think these are also the 'castores' (beavers), which, when hunters pursue them, themselves remove their own testicles. The 'aranea' (spider's silk) is so called because it is nourished on foliage by the infusion of the air ('aer'). 'Sericum' (silk) is so called because the Seres first sent it; for little worms are said to be born there, from which these threads are drawn about the trees; but the worms themselves are named in Greek 'bombykes'. 'Placium' is tow and, as it were, the coarse residue of silk, and it is a Greek name. XXVIII. ON THE COLORS OF GARMENTS. 'Tinctura' (dyeing) is so called because it is steeped ('tinguitur') and tinted into another appearance for the grace of luster.
What the Greeks call 'kokkon', we call red or 'vermiculus' (little worm); for it is a little worm from the woodland foliage. The 'conchylium' is so named because its color is gathered from little sea-shells ('conchulae'): the same is also called 'ostrum'. 'Ostrum', which is prepared for the color of purple, is produced in very many places, but the best on the island of Cyprus, or in those regions which the course of the sun illuminates more nearly. And the 'conchylia' are creatures of the sea, which, when cut around with iron, emit tears of a purple color: these being collected, the purple color is prepared. And they say that 'ostrum' is so named from this, because it is drawn out from the moisture of the shell ('testa'). 'Purpura' among the Latins is named from the purity ('puritas') of light. But among the Greeks it is called 'porphyra' with aspiration, among us 'purpura' without aspiration.
'Ferrugo' (iron-rust color) is a color of blackish purple which is made in Spain, as (Virgil, Aeneid 9.582): 'bright with Iberian rust-color.' And it is called 'ferrugo' because every purple, in its first dyeing, exists in a color of this kind. 'Glaucus' (gray-blue) is a rust-colored, blackish color. 'Elbidum' is named from the color 'elbum'; for 'elbum' is a color midway between black and white, and 'elbum' is derived from 'albus' (white). 'Luteus' is a reddish color, which is saffron ('croceus'). For saffron is of a 'luteus' color, as (Virgil, Eclogues 4.44): 'It changed the fleece with saffron yellow.' 'Menum' [which is of a black color; for the Greeks call black 'melan']. 'Masticinum' [which has the color of mastic]. 'Blatteum'. 'Blavum'. 'Mesticium'. 'Osticium', because it is from what is burnt ('ustum'); for it is made from the hanging soot of roofs cast out by continual fires:
whence too the color of that same dye is flame-like. XXIX. ON THE INSTRUMENTS OF GARMENTS. The 'tela' (web, warp) is named for the length of the warp-threads ('stamina'), whose derivative is 'telaria'. The 'insubuli' (beams of the loom), because they are below ('infra') and above ('supra'), or because things are wound on them ('insubulantur'). The 'radii' (shuttles) are so called because they are made by scraping ('radendo'). The 'pectines' (combs, reeds), because they render the threads combed ('pexa') and press them. The 'colum' (distaff), because it is in length and roundness like a column ('columna'). The 'fusum' (spindle), because through it is poured out ('fundatur') what is spun. The 'alibrum' (reel), because on it the threads are freed ('liberantur'), that is, unwound. The 'calathum' (basket) is a light vessel made of flax or cane or rush, in which either wool-work is placed or flowers are gathered; for 'kala' in Greek is wood, from which 'calathum' is derived. For in Latin it is called 'quasillum'. Cicero in the Philippics (3.10):
'Or should gold indeed be weighed out among the wool-baskets.' The 'pensum' (allotted weight of wool) of women is named from weighing ('pendere'); whence 'pensa' and 'inpensa' (expense). 'Netum' (spun thread). 'Fila' (threads) are so called either because they are from the hairs ('pili') of animals, or because wool-working consists of fine threads in the manner of hairs, that is, as if of 'fila'. 'Mataxa', as if 'metaxa', namely from the circuit of the threads; for 'meta' is a circuit; or because it is transferred. The 'gubellum' is called by corruption from 'globus' (ball) by diminution, as if 'globellum'. The 'panuliae' (bobbins), because from them cloths ('panni') are woven; for these run through the web. The 'stamen' (warp) is so named because it stands ('stat') straight. The 'trama' (weft), because it is sent straight across through the web; for it is a thread running within the warp. The 'licia' (heddles) are those by which the warp-threads are bound ('ligantur'), as if 'ligia'. 'To warp' ('ordire') is 'To weave' ('texere') is XXX. ON ORNAMENTS. Thus far concerning clothing:
henceforth let us come to the rest of adornment. 'Ornamenta' (ornaments) are so called because by their adornment the faces ('ora') and countenances ('vultus') are made comely. The first of ornaments is the crown ('corona'), the mark of victory, or the sign of royal honor; which is therefore placed on the head of kings, to signify the peoples spread around in the world, with whom the king is girt, as if his head is crowned. This is called by Lucilius (1143) 'corolla' (little crown), by Homer (Iliad 8.597) 'stephane'. The Gentiles think its origin was from a certain Liber (Bacchus), because in drinking they established the practice of binding their heads, excited by wine, with little fillets. For that reason crowns were formerly of a linen and woolen kind, as was the case among the priests of the Gentiles.
The name 'crown' (corona) was given for this reason: because in the beginning people would run around the altars, and after the likeness of that circuit or of a dancing-ring it was both fashioned and named a crown. The Roman emperors and certain kings of the nations use golden crowns. The Persians wear tiaras; but the kings wear them upright, the satraps bent over. The tiara was invented by Semiramis, queen of the Assyrians, and from then to this very day that nation retains this kind of adornment. The Athenians used to wear golden circlets, some upon the top of the head, others upon the forehead. For the insignia of all realms are not the same. The seers of the heathen used fillets, peaked caps, felt caps, or leathern helmets.
The infula is a small priestly headband, white, in the manner of a diadem, from which fillets (vittae) hang down on either side and bind the infula fast; whence the fillets too are so called, because they bind (vincire). Now the infula was for the most part broad, and for the most part twisted, made of white and scarlet. The apex is a stitched felt cap which the heathen priests used, so named from apere, that is, to bind on. For the little rod that stood upon the cap was fastened with a thread that was made from the wool of the sacrificial victim. The galerum is a felt cap made from the hide of a slaughtered victim. And the felt cap (pilleum) is named from the hide (pellis) of the victim from which it was made. The cidaris was likewise a priest's ornament, which by many is called a mitre. XXXI. ON THE HEAD-ORNAMENTS OF WOMEN. The head-ornaments of women are: the diadem, the nimbus, the capitulum, and the mitre.
The diadem is a head-ornament of matrons, woven of gold and gems, which is drawn tight behind by its ends brought round upon itself; and from this it is called in Greek 'diadem,' because it is bound about (praeligare). The nimbus is a little band set crosswise, of gold sewn upon linen, that lies upon the forehead of women. Plautus says (Poenulus 348): 'The more I look at her, the more she is decked with a nimbus.' For the light too that is painted around the heads of angels is called a nimbus, although a nimbus is also a thickness of cloud. The capitulum is what people commonly call a capitulare. The same is also the cappa, either because it has two peaks like the letter cappa, or because it is an ornament of the head (caput). The mitre is a Phrygian cap, covering the head, such as is the head-covering of consecrated women. But the felt cap belongs to men, the mitre to women.
Redimicula are the ties by which the mitre is fastened. The felt cap, as we said before, was made from hide; for the mitre is of wool. The ricula is a mitre for a maiden's head. Vittae (fillets) are what are entwined in the hair, by which the flowing locks are bound back; and they are called vittae because they bind (vincire). The taenia is the hanging end of the fillets, of various colors. Likewise a vitta is that by which a garland is bound; but the taenia is the outermost part of the fillet that hangs from the garland. The reticulum (hair-net) is what gathers the tresses, so called from the fact that it holds back the hair lest it be scattered. The parting-pins of women's heads are called discriminalia from this, that they divide the hair with gold; for to divide is called discriminare. Antiae are the curling locks that hang near the ears; a Greek word, from the ears.
Pins (acus) are those by which in women the arrangement of the hair to be adorned is held fast, lest it flow too loosely and the scattered locks fall apart. Earrings (inaures) are named from the holes of the ears, from which precious beads of stones hang. Their use in Greece was thus: girls wore them in both ears, boys only in the right. Torques are golden circlets hanging from the neck down to the breast. Now torques and bullae are worn by men; but by women necklaces (monilia) and little chains. And they are called torques because they are twisted (tortae), and bullae because they resemble in their roundness the bubbles (bullae) that are blown up in water by the wind. The monile is an ornament of gems that is wont to hang from the neck of women; it is named from a gift (munus).
This same thing is also called a 'serpent' (serpentum), because it consists of certain little golden vessels and various gems fashioned in the shape of a serpent. Some call this also a 'segment' (segmentum), as does Juvenal (2,124): 'Segments and long robes'; and indeed we may speak of 'segmented' garments, as he himself says (6,89): 'And she had slept, a little girl, in a segmented cradle.' But for the most part all the ornaments of matrons are signified by the word munile — whatever is given to them as a gift (munus). The murena (eel-chain) is commonly so called because, of gold-metal drawn out into little threads, a chain of a winding pattern is woven in the likeness of the eel-serpent (murena), which is fitted for adorning the neck. Sometimes this is woven of threads of gold and silver. Whence also in the Song of Songs it is said (1,10):
'We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver.' Catellae are little chains of the neck, linking one into another in the manner of a chain (catena); whence also they are named. The bracelets called dextrae are common to men and women, because the right hands (dexterae) are of either sex. But armillae are properly of men, bestowed upon soldiers for the sake of victory, from the valor of arms (arma); whence once they were commonly called viriolae. In its notion the armilla does not differ from the circlet, because it too, where it is placed, binds fast by encircling; but the armilla is drawn out more broadly, whereas the circlet is round. Brooches (fibulae) are those by which the breast of women is adorned, or by which the cloak is held upon the shoulders by men, or the belt upon the loins.
Lunulae are ornaments of women, little golden bullae hanging in the likeness of the moon (luna). Mirrors (specula) are those in which women gaze upon their own faces. The mirror is so called either because the image is given back from its brightness (splendor), or because there women, gazing into it, consider the appearance of their own face, and add whatever ornament they see to be lacking. Periscelides are among women the leg-ornaments by which their gait is adorned. Olfactoriola are little women's vessels in which perfumes are carried. XXXII. ON RINGS. Prometheus is said to have been the first to encircle his finger with an iron ring set with a stone; and by following this custom men began to have rings. Rings (anuli) are so called as a diminutive from 'circles' (circuli) and from the 'ani,' which are the bands about the arms and about the legs;
whence also their seals (signa), by diminution, are called sigilla: for signa are larger, but sigilla are as it were smaller signa. Men first began to wear rings on the fourth finger from the thumb, because from it a certain vein reaches all the way to the heart, which the ancients thought should be marked and adorned with some distinctive sign. Among the Romans rings were given from the public treasury, and not without distinction; for to the most eminent men in rank rings set with gems were given, to the rest plain ones. Neither slave nor freedman wore a golden ring in public, but the free-born used the golden ring, freedmen the silver, slaves the iron; although many most honorable men used an iron ring. Among the ancients it was reckoned disgraceful for a man to use more than one ring. Gracchus says against Mevius:
'Consider, O Quirites, his left hand; behold whose authority you follow — a man who, for love of women, is adorned like a woman.' Crassus, who perished among the Parthians, in his old age had two rings, alleging as his reason that his wealth had grown boundless. Many of the Romans too, for gravity's sake, refrained from wearing a ring on the finger. Women did not use rings, except those which a bridegroom had sent to his bride, nor were they wont to have on their fingers more than two golden rings. But now, for gold's sake, no limb of women is light and free of it. Among the kinds of rings are the ungulus, the Samothracian, and the Thynian. The ungulus is one set with a gem, and it is called by this name because, just as the nail (ungula) is fixed to the flesh, so the gem of the ring is bound fast to the gold.
The Samothracian ring is indeed of gold, but with an iron bezel; it is so named from the place. The Thynian is pure, first made in Bithynia, which was once called Thynia. Flaccus (Maecenas, frag. 1) says: 'By your shining light, my life, I seek neither emeralds nor beryls for myself, Flaccus, nor gleaming pearls of purest white, nor those little rings which the Tunnican file has polished, nor gems of jasper.' XXXIII. ON BELTS. The cinctus is a broad girdle, the semicinctium is less broad, and least of all is the cingulum common to both; for cingulum is named by diminution from cinctus. With a cinctus the young men used to veil their private parts in the exercise of the Campus; whence it was also called the campestris.
The baldric (balteum) is a military belt, so called because from it the standards hang to indicate the full strength of a military legion, that is, six thousand six hundred men, of which number they themselves consist. Whence also it is called balteus not only because it girds, but also because from it the arms hang. Zona is a Greek word, which they call zonarin, and we call the girdle (cingulum). The strophium is a golden girdle set with gems. Of this Cinna says (Catullus 64,65): 'Her milk-white breasts girded with a strophium'; and Prudentius (Peristephanon 25,4): 'This is the name of the gem bound to the strophium.' The limus is the girdle which the public slaves had; and it is called limus because it had crosswise stripes of purple, that is, limae. The caltula is a kind of girdle, so called from a compressed thong.
The fibula is a Greek word, which they call fibla, because it binds (ligare). The subfibulum is an undergarment for the loins. The redimiculum is what we call the subcinctorium or bracile, which, descending along the neck and parted at the sides of the neck, encircles the hollow of either armpit, and thence girds it below on this side and that, so that, binding fast the breadth, it clothes the body, draws it together, and by joining composes it. This people commonly call brachile, as if brachiale (arm-band), although now it is a belt not of the arms but of the loins. The subcinctorium is so called because, as has been said, being led beneath the arms, it encircles the hollow of the armpits and girds it below on this side and that. The fascia is that by which the breast is covered and the paps are compressed, and by a crinkling girdle the breast is drawn in more narrowly:
and it is called fascia because it binds the body in the manner of a little bundle (fasciculus). Hence also the fasciolae, with which wounds are bound up. The vitta is so called because with it the breast is bound, after the fashion of a binding vine (vitis). The limbus is what we call a border-trimming (ornatura). The fasciola is that which surrounds the edge of garments, either woven of threads or of gold and sewn on from the outside at the outermost part of a garment or a cloak. Of which Virgil says (Aeneid 4,137): 'Girt with a Sidonian cloak with an embroidered border (limbus).' XXXIV. ON FOOTWEAR. Cobblers (sutores) are so named because with a thread and the inserted bristles (setae) of swine they sew (suere), that is, they stitch together, as it were setores. But shoemakers (caligarii) are named not from the callus of the feet, but from the calo, that is, the wooden last, without which shoes cannot be sewn — which the Greeks call kalopodes:
and formerly they were made only of willow. Hence also footwear (calciamenta) is so called because it is made upon the calo, that is, the wooden last; or because it is trodden upon (calcari). The Greeks used crepidae (slippers), invented earlier. It is a kind of a single form, and one and the same suits either foot, whether right or left. Crepidae are so called because they are drawn tight with a sound (sonus), or from the creak (crepitus) of the feet in walking. Kings and Caesars used the calcei (boots). Their form was ***. Patrician boots Romulus devised, with four thongs and a sewn-on crescent moon; these only the patricians used. Now the moon on them signified not the shape of that heavenly body, but the mark of the number one hundred, because in the beginning the patrician senators were a hundred. Greaves (ocreae) are shin-footwear, so called because they cover the legs (crura).
Buskins (coturni) are those with which tragedians were shod, who were about to speak in the theatre and to sing their verses in a lofty and thundering voice. For it is a footwear in the manner of slippers, which the heroes used; but it is of such a kind that it fits both the right and the left foot. The baxeae were the footwear of comedians, just as the buskins were of tragedians. Some also call them calones, because they were made of willow; for the Greeks, as we have said, called wood kala. Talares are ankle-boots (socci), which seem to be named from this, that they are of such a shape that they reach the ankle (talus); just as subtolares, because they are beneath the ankle, as it were subtalares. The obstrigilli are those which are stitched along the soles, and from the upper part a thong is drawn so that they may be drawn tight; whence too they are named.
The osae I think were first made from bone (os), and although now made of another material, they nevertheless retain their former name. The mullei are like buskins with a high sole, but in the upper part with little bone or bronze knobs, to which straps were bound. And they are named from their red color, such as is that of the mullet fish (mullus). Sandals (soleae) are those by which only the soles of the feet are covered, so called from the sole (solum) of the feet. Likewise there are soleae of solid material, made of matter covered with leather. Socci, whose diminutive is socelli, are so named from this, that they have a sack (saccus) into which part of the sole is thrust. Calliculae. Caligae are so called either from the callus of the feet, or because they are laced (ligari). For socci are not laced, but only slipped on. Cernui are socci without a sole. Lingulati are those which we call foliati (tongued).
Clavati (studded shoes) [as if claviati, because the soles are fastened to the boots with small nails, that is, sharp ones (clavi)]. Perones and sculponeae are rustic footwear. The baxea is women's footwear. Corrigiae (shoe-thongs) are named from leather (corium), or from the binding together (colligatio), as it were colligiae.