Live-Blogging Kalamazoo: Friday 13:30
May. 11th, 2012 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjDress and Textiles III: Dress and Textile Vocabulary Revealed
Atir, Apparaill, Clathis, Vesture: Linguistic Choices Relating To Dress And Textiles across Different Text Types -- Louise Sylvester
Data taken from wardrobe accounts and petitions to king, council and parliament. Source materials for forthcoming "Medieval Dres and Textiles: A Multilingual Anthology of Sources", covering a variety of genres and contexts. Paper looks at the choice of vocabulary refering to clothing depending on the context and genre type of the descriptions and references. Current comparison is romances, sumptuary laws, and wills. Overal number of words is equivalent in current corpus. Classified as garments, accessory/decoratoin, furnishings, armor, clerical garments, and descriptors. So, for example, descriptors are most common in wills, where clearly distinguishing items may be more important than in purely descriptive works. For sumptuary laws, the categories of clothing and people are more important, so vocabulary focuses on general garment types or more general descriptions. Romances feature technical terminology, e.g., identifying speific items within a category, as well as descriptoins of how the garment is worn (e.g., "covered, wrapped up"). Contrasting superordinate and specific terms, the proportions of specific items are higher in wills, again indicating a need for precision (though in absolute terms, both romances and sumptuary laws have greater numbers of different specific terms). In a multi-lingual context, translation can provide evidence for how linguistic choices are made, whether terms are borrowed, translated, or substitutions of alternate terms are used. For example: sumptuary law of 1463 (composed initially in English then translated into French): all superordinate terms are shared and of French origin while specific names for garments may differ, whether they correspond closely or are simply equivalent. Names for accessories usually differ while names ot textiles are generally shared and French, similarly for names of furs. Surprisingly, the English verb "wear" occurs in the Anglo-French text (contrasted with similar 14th c. statutes where French "prendre" is used in the same context). This seems to be a function of the language of composition rather than the relative status of the languages. In a larger survey, there are some terms that are used across a variety of languages, pointing to the possible development of a common vocabulary in a fluidly multi-lingual society.
“Embroidered in Gold with Stars”: The Inventories of Saint Paul’s Cathedral -- Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Univ. of Manchester
(A brief history of the history of St. Paul's. This paper concerns the Gothic version replaced by Wren's structure.) Inventories of the cathedral's treasures were taken twice in the 13th c. and once in the early 15th c. (The inventories are published in the original Latin in various 19th c. publications.) The 13th c. inventories were taken in a period of expansion and wealth. Vast numbers of various categories of ecclesiastical vestments and other textiles (furnishings, cushions, curtains, baudequins). (A lot of the paper consists of detailed descriptions of items in the inventory, accompanied by slides of similar object types from varous sources -- not generally the actual object being described.) Predominant fabric mentioned is samite in varous colors. "Cloth of Aresta" (a type of figured silk) is commonly mentioned. Sendal appears as a lining fabric. Decoration is often generic, e.g. "gold-work" but not specified what technique. Items are often decorated with specified gemstones (generally semi-precious) along with enameled plaques, bezants, etc. Specific design motifs are often described, including details of embroidered figures. Original owners or associated people are mentioned in the inventories. The inventory also assigns values to items, either based on the weight of precious metal or evaluated as a whole. Damage and missing decorations are described as well, and older items are sometimes noted as "of little value". Recycling of items are noted in some cases. Occastional notes on items borrowed and not returned. The later inventory includes items with heraldic decorations. Items are often described in sets. Storage conditions were noted (e.g., copes stored flat versus hanging). Changes in categories and terms in the later inventory suggest either vocabulary changes or changes in fashion, with some garments either becoming obsolete or coming to be known by different names.
A Household Bespoke: Language and Dress in the Fourteenth-Century Roll of Liveries of Elizabeth, Countess of Holland -- Mark Chambers, Univ. of Westminster
Source documents are from 1302-1305. Not part of the larger wardrobe accounts, covers specifically the livery for a particular household. Elizabeth is daughter of Edward I, betrothed to the young Count of Holland, married in 1297 in an opulent wedding (for which there are also garment descriptions). He died young. Second marriage at age 20 in 1302 to Earl of Hereford. The inventory names the individuals receiving specific garments or materials and gives the cost/value. The language of accounts like this are highly abbreviated but are normally published in silently expanded forms, making lexical analysis more difficult. Even assigning linguistic origins to terms can be difficult given the tendency to re-Latinize French or English derivatives of Latin vocabulary items.
Atir, Apparaill, Clathis, Vesture: Linguistic Choices Relating To Dress And Textiles across Different Text Types -- Louise Sylvester
Data taken from wardrobe accounts and petitions to king, council and parliament. Source materials for forthcoming "Medieval Dres and Textiles: A Multilingual Anthology of Sources", covering a variety of genres and contexts. Paper looks at the choice of vocabulary refering to clothing depending on the context and genre type of the descriptions and references. Current comparison is romances, sumptuary laws, and wills. Overal number of words is equivalent in current corpus. Classified as garments, accessory/decoratoin, furnishings, armor, clerical garments, and descriptors. So, for example, descriptors are most common in wills, where clearly distinguishing items may be more important than in purely descriptive works. For sumptuary laws, the categories of clothing and people are more important, so vocabulary focuses on general garment types or more general descriptions. Romances feature technical terminology, e.g., identifying speific items within a category, as well as descriptoins of how the garment is worn (e.g., "covered, wrapped up"). Contrasting superordinate and specific terms, the proportions of specific items are higher in wills, again indicating a need for precision (though in absolute terms, both romances and sumptuary laws have greater numbers of different specific terms). In a multi-lingual context, translation can provide evidence for how linguistic choices are made, whether terms are borrowed, translated, or substitutions of alternate terms are used. For example: sumptuary law of 1463 (composed initially in English then translated into French): all superordinate terms are shared and of French origin while specific names for garments may differ, whether they correspond closely or are simply equivalent. Names for accessories usually differ while names ot textiles are generally shared and French, similarly for names of furs. Surprisingly, the English verb "wear" occurs in the Anglo-French text (contrasted with similar 14th c. statutes where French "prendre" is used in the same context). This seems to be a function of the language of composition rather than the relative status of the languages. In a larger survey, there are some terms that are used across a variety of languages, pointing to the possible development of a common vocabulary in a fluidly multi-lingual society.
“Embroidered in Gold with Stars”: The Inventories of Saint Paul’s Cathedral -- Gale R. Owen-Crocker, Univ. of Manchester
(A brief history of the history of St. Paul's. This paper concerns the Gothic version replaced by Wren's structure.) Inventories of the cathedral's treasures were taken twice in the 13th c. and once in the early 15th c. (The inventories are published in the original Latin in various 19th c. publications.) The 13th c. inventories were taken in a period of expansion and wealth. Vast numbers of various categories of ecclesiastical vestments and other textiles (furnishings, cushions, curtains, baudequins). (A lot of the paper consists of detailed descriptions of items in the inventory, accompanied by slides of similar object types from varous sources -- not generally the actual object being described.) Predominant fabric mentioned is samite in varous colors. "Cloth of Aresta" (a type of figured silk) is commonly mentioned. Sendal appears as a lining fabric. Decoration is often generic, e.g. "gold-work" but not specified what technique. Items are often decorated with specified gemstones (generally semi-precious) along with enameled plaques, bezants, etc. Specific design motifs are often described, including details of embroidered figures. Original owners or associated people are mentioned in the inventories. The inventory also assigns values to items, either based on the weight of precious metal or evaluated as a whole. Damage and missing decorations are described as well, and older items are sometimes noted as "of little value". Recycling of items are noted in some cases. Occastional notes on items borrowed and not returned. The later inventory includes items with heraldic decorations. Items are often described in sets. Storage conditions were noted (e.g., copes stored flat versus hanging). Changes in categories and terms in the later inventory suggest either vocabulary changes or changes in fashion, with some garments either becoming obsolete or coming to be known by different names.
A Household Bespoke: Language and Dress in the Fourteenth-Century Roll of Liveries of Elizabeth, Countess of Holland -- Mark Chambers, Univ. of Westminster
Source documents are from 1302-1305. Not part of the larger wardrobe accounts, covers specifically the livery for a particular household. Elizabeth is daughter of Edward I, betrothed to the young Count of Holland, married in 1297 in an opulent wedding (for which there are also garment descriptions). He died young. Second marriage at age 20 in 1302 to Earl of Hereford. The inventory names the individuals receiving specific garments or materials and gives the cost/value. The language of accounts like this are highly abbreviated but are normally published in silently expanded forms, making lexical analysis more difficult. Even assigning linguistic origins to terms can be difficult given the tendency to re-Latinize French or English derivatives of Latin vocabulary items.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-05-11 06:50 pm (UTC)How about you Bring hand outs home and I will cook you dinner and you can regale me with fiber-awesomeness.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-11 06:52 pm (UTC)i still want to drag you along sone year!
no subject
Date: 2012-05-12 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-12 05:27 pm (UTC)