Art and Materials Conservation Commons^™

Listening For Licia: A Reconsideration Of Latin Licia As Heddle-Leashes, Magdalena Öhrman

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The semantic field of Latin licium and its plural form licia is undoubtedly wide, with the term applied to thread both generally and in specific legal, medical and magical usage as well as in relation to weaving, and this paper does not aim to survey Latin usage of this term comprehensively. Rather, it focuses on one of the uses of licia in Latin literary sources, namely those where licia appears to denote heddle-leashes. Two much-discussed passages occur in Augustan poetry where licia may be used in this sense: Vergil’s Georgics 1.285 and Tibullus elegy 1.6.79. Both passages have been subject …

Provenance Investigations Of Raw Materials In Pre-Columbian Textiles From Pachacamac; Strontium Isotope Analyses, Karin Margarita Frei, Lena Bjerregaard

PreColumbian Textile Conference VII / Jornadas de Textiles PreColombinos VII (2016)

Pachacamac was considered a sanctuary or oracle by several of the pre-Columbian Andean cultures. As a pilgrimage destination, the site was rich in archaeological artifacts and yielded also many well preserved textiles. Some of the objects found at Pachacamac are considered offerings by the pilgrims to their Gods, and the majority are assumed to be of nonlocal origin. Others are from the Ychsma people, who lived in Pachacamac and the nearby Rimac Valley during the last centuries before the conquest. We have investigated 10 pre-Columbian textile samples, which were supposedly excavated at the archaeological site of Pachacamac, Peru. The textiles …

Observations On The Terminology Of Textile Tools In The Edictum Diocletiani On Maximum Prices, Peder Flemestad, Mary Harlow, Berit Hildebrandt, Marie-Louise Nosch

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The Edictum Diocletiani et collegarum: The so-called Edict of Maximum Prices was issued in AD 301 as part of a comprehensive administrative and financial reform released in the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian. Diocletian came to power in AD 284 after a period in Roman history traditionally understood as a time of ‘crisis’, produced by a series of inter-related factors: a frequent turnover of emperors; problems with the economy in terms of production and coinage; incursions by various tribes on the edges of the empire; internal unrest; the rise of Christianity and periodic persecutions. Diocletian’s actions were arguably pragmatic …

Textile Terminologies From The Orient To The Mediterranean And Europe, 1000 Bc To 1000 Ad -- Covers & Frontmatter, Salvatore Gaspa, Cécile Michel, Marie-Louise Nosch

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Front and "back" covers

Title page

Copyright page

Preface

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

Jewish Terminologies For Fabrics And Garments In Late Antiquity: A Linguistic Survey Based On The Mishnah And The Talmuds, Christina Katsikadeli

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The main texts of the Rabbinic literature, the Mishnah and the Talmuds encompass a wide range of textile and clothing terms embedded in everyday situations as well as in ritual contexts. A great deal of intertextuality shared both by the Mishnah and the Talmuds as well as by other exegetic works like the Tosefta and the early Midrash – not to mention the Bible – makes these texts a valuable source for the investigation of cultural history and language change and contact, even in micro-contexts, in adherence to the traditions and heuristics of historical comparative linguistics, concerning etymology, language change …

Conceptualizing Greek Textile Terminologies: A Databased System, Kalliope Sarri

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

One of the major challenges in costume and textile research is dealing with the vast number of terms related to textiles and garments, especially because similar terms are found in different languages and dialects, in various regions and over long periods of time, where they have survived in a complicated network of linguistic and cultural interrelations. There have been many attempts to collect textile terms in glossaries as parts of costume studies or as parts of museum archival projects. These glossaries however are usually limited to specific topics, geographical areas, languages, and time periods.

Creating a diachronic and global costume …

Sasanian Exegesis Of Avestan Textile Terms, Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The Zoroastrian religion, taking its name from the prophet Zoroaster, Greek version of the Avestan name Zaraϑuštra, developed in South and Central Asia out of the Indo-Iranian religious practices going back to the 2nd millennium BC, and is one of the few ancient Indo-European religions that still survive, concretely in some communities in Iran, India and the diaspora. The most ancient Zoroastrian sacred texts, commonly designated as the Avesta, were orally composed and transmitted during the 2nd and 1st millennia BC in the most archaic Iranian language preserved, known as Avestan, until they were eventually put down to writing in …

Ordinary People’S Garments In Neo- And Late-Babylonian Sources, Luigi Malatacca

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The investigation of textiles and clothes in ancient Mesopotamia has been anything but neglected in Assyriological studies. For the Neo- and Late Babylonian periods, in particular, two fundamental monographs have shed light on the clothes worn by the deities worshiped in lower Mesopotamia. 2 Scholars, however, have focused almost exclusively on clothing in the cultic context. This is due to a prevalence of textual sources – mostly economic or administrative documents – recording clothing items worn by divine images during festivals and rituals. Sources on the clothes worn by common people, instead, are close to non-existent. Still, we cannot overlook …

Zur Textilterminologie Auf Römischen Bleitäfelchen: Probleme Der Lesung Und Interpretation, Herbert Graßl

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Die Vorlage und das Studium römischer Bleitesserae, das in den letzten Jahren einen beachtlichen Aufschwung erlebt hat,1 lieferte gerade für die kaiserzeitliche römische Textilwirtschaft viele neue Einsichten. Dazu zählen neben dem in diesem Wirtschaftszweig tätigen Personenkreis vor allem die Herstellung, Verarbeitung und Vermarktung von Textilien, ihre Bezeichnungen und auch Preise in verschiedenen Provinzen des Imperiums. Trotz aller neuer Erkenntnisse bleibt auf diesem Feld aber noch viel zu tun: die Lesung der Texte ist häufig nicht gesichert, die inhaltliche Deutung auch wegen der häufigen Verwendung von Abkürzungen schwierig, dazu kommt noch die verstreute und oft nur schwer erreichbare Publikationsform. Dass sich …

A Name Of A Private Factory (Or Workshop) On A Piece Of Textile: The Case Of The Document A.L.18 (Vienna), Anne Regourd, Fiona J. L. Handley

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The Arabic Leinwand (A.L.) collection is held by the Department of Papyrus (Papyrussammlung) in the Austrian National Library of Vienna.1 The collection was acquired in Egypt in the late 19th century by an antiquity trader in Cairo commissioned by Joseph von Karabacek, the famous papyrologist, and contains 68 items.2 Almost all of these have an association with writing, hence the reason why they were collected for the Library, and only eight objects have no association at all. The language for the most part is Arabic with a few texts in Greek, or with Greek with Arabic. The collection of pieces …

A Diachronic View On Fulling Technology In The Mediterranean And The Ancient Near East: Tools, Raw Materials And Natural Resources For The Finishing Of Textiles, Elena Soriga

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Among the operations required in the overall cycle of the ancient production of textiles, Greek and Roman sources refer to the fulling of woollen fabrics as the most complex and expensive technical process performed both in the 1st millennium BC and the 1st millennium AD. Indeed, the finishing of woollen clothes needed a large amount of time, energy and labour, as well as involving the use of specialized skills and costly raw materials. Fulling fulfilled two functions that were necessary for the proper finishing of cloth, namely the scouring and consolidation of the fibres in the fabric. Woven cloth straight …

Flax And Linen Terminology In Talmudic Literature, Nahum Ben-Yehuda

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Material culture data is mentioned in Talmudic (or ‘rabbinical’) literature when a relevant legal (‘halakhic’) or homiletic (‘midrashic’) context arises. Therefore, certain details may be lacking or ambiguously stated. This however is not presented in a systematic and detailed manner, such as in ‘Pliny’s Natural History’.2 Additional classical authors mention flax and linen. First and foremost: Diocletian3 in his edict of maximum prices. And in less scope and detail: Xenophon,4 Virgil,5 Strabo,6 Columella,7 Pausanias,8 and Theodosius II9 – in his codex. In some instances, these sources may be useful for comparison, contrast and clarification – to Talmudic sources. It is …

Armenian Karmir, Sogdian Karmīr ‘Red’, Hebrew Karmīl And The Armenian Scale Insect Dye In Antiquity, Agnes Korn, Georg Warning

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

This paper looks at three terms denoting the colour ‘red’, viz. Armenian karmir, the obviously corresponding Sogdian word karmīr, and karmīl ‘scarlet’ found in the Hebrew Bible. It will first briefly discuss the etymology of these words (summarising an argument made elsewhere) and argue that the words in question represent a technical term for a red dye from Armenia produced by scale insects. We will then attempt to show that historical data and chemical analysis of extant historical textiles confirm the Armenian red as the relevant dye.

Late Biblical Hebrew karmīl occurs only three times. All three attestations are …

Textilnet.Dk – A Toolkit For Terminology Research And Presentation, Susanne Lervad, Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Since February 2015, the digital dictionary or term database, textilnet.dk, has been accessible on the Internet.1 The purpose of this paper is to present the background and methods of this pilot project. Since 2010, the project has collaborated with The Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research (CTR), University of Copenhagen, and has gained moral support from Sabine Kirchmeier-Andersen, director of Dansk Sprognævn, the Danish National Language Advisory Committee.2 From 2011 to 2015, we have been working with generous funding from the Danish Ministry of Culture. The objective of textilnet.dk is to preserve and communicate the cultural heritage of …

Irritating Byssus – Etymological Problems, Material Facts, And The Impact Of Mass Media, Felicitas Maeder

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Byssus and sea-silk made of the fibre beard of the Pinna nobilis – zoologically called byssus – have both become subjects of scholarly interest in the last decade. The subject is discussed not only in scientific books and journals, but also in mass media around the world. Although scientific research has clarified some old misunderstandings, the double meaning of the term byssus has created new doubts and scepticism in the scholarly debate, bearing the danger of new, additional erroneous interpretations. This article recapitulates the present state of knowledge and calls attention to the consequences of assumed ‘old/new knowledge’ entering the …

The Oscillum Misunderstanding, Francesco Meo

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

In this passage the Latin term oscillum refers to a particular class of objects: a small face or mask hung on trees during certain religious feasts celebrated by the Ausones in honour of Bacchus (Fig. 1). The Roman oscilla most probably derives from the Aἰῶραι, small images related to Dionysus hung on trees during the Aἰῶρα, an Athenian public feast. They were believed to purify the air as they swung in the wind. Both the Greek and the Latin words refer to objects used during particular sacred feasts, in the first case public and in the second case …

The Textile Terminology In Ancient Japan, Mari Omura, Naoko Kizawa

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

This paper investigates key Japanese words related to textiles and their production in ancient Japan that is during the 1st millennium AD. At this time the language known as ‘Old Japanese’ evolved and eventually systems for writing it down emerged, based on borrowing the Chinese characters. Textiles used for clothing, coverings, tax items, and ritual objects played an integral role in the society, and thus terms related to textiles provide insight into the life style, politics, religion and economy of Japan as it emerged from a tribal-based localized society into a centralized nation state. The linguistic study also points to …

Blanket Statements, Issue 132, Winter 2017–2018

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 132, Winter 2017–2018

Textile Terminology In Old High German Between Inherited And Loan Words, Roland Schuhmann

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

A particular language consists of course not only of words inherited from its respective parent language but contains also a certain amount of loan words (however, this amount differs depending on the respective language). This universal principle then also holds true for the speakers of the Germanic languages. The vocabulary of the Germanic languages includes not only the lexicon inherited from Proto‑Indo‑European but a range of languages later on heavily influenced it. In the times before the documentation of the Germanic languages, the two most important sources that influenced the Germanic lexicon were Celtic and (prolonged) Latin. Influence in the …

Terminology Associated With Silk In The Middle Byzantine Period (Ad 843-1204), Julia Galliker

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

During the 1st millennium AD, silk became the most desirable fibre in the Mediterranean region. While the expansion of silk production and consumption is widely acknowledged, specific features of the industry’s development are more difficult to discern. Chroniclers had little reason to document silk manufacturing processes, and producers were not inclined to record or publicise their trade secrets. Historical knowledge of silk comes mainly from accounts of its consumption in a variety of forms and contexts.

For the middle Byzantine period (AD 843-1204), the two most elaborated sources associated with silk date from the 10th century. The Book of the …

The Textile Term Gammadia, Maciej Szymaszek

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

This paper aims to investigate the origin of the term gammadia by determining the oldest examples of its use both in source texts and secondary literature.1 For nearly four centuries this term was commonly applied to the various motifs on mantles of figures represented in art of the 1st millennium AD.2 These right-angled and letter-like signs attracted the attention of several authors who were seeking to explain their possible symbolic meaning, but they did not pay attention to the correctness of the term adapted to name such motifs.3 This approach contributed to the terminological confusion and difficulties in understanding the …

“Der Faden Soll Nicht Reißen, Während Ich Meine Dichtung Webe…”: Zum Metaphorischen Gebrauch Von Textilterminologie Im Rigveda, Stefan Niederreiter,

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

Wenn man sich als historisch-vergleichender Sprachwissenschaftler mit einem speziellen realienkundlichen Thema einer ausgewählten Epoche einer altindogermanischen Sprache beschäftigt, so ist man aus Erfahrung darauf gefasst, dass Informationen zumeist lückenhaft vorhanden sind und die Erschließung der Texte mit den unterschiedlichsten philologischen und linguistischen Schwierigkeiten verbunden sein kann. Trägt man das Erkenntnisinteresse textilterminologischer Fragestellungen an den ältesten indischen Text, den Rigveda (RV), heran, liegt es schon an der Textsorte der für rituelle Zwecke bestimmten sacerdotalen Dichtung, dass Informationen zur handwerklichen Praxis des Webens allenfalls verstreut, beiläufig und dann vor allem in poetischen Metaphern den vedischen Hymnen zu entnehmen sind. Aber gerade der …

Purple And Its Various Kinds In Documentary Papyri, Ines Bogensperger

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The colour purple evokes an inestimable, priceless luxury in our understanding. It almost belongs in a legendary world along with other exquisite goods. Purple is seen as example par excellence for a symbol of social status, a token of prestige. A significant study on the importance of purple has brought to light the persistent desire for this colour throughout the Greek and Roman world.2 Literary sources from Roman times provide us quite comprehensive information on the colour and its sources. The most often quoted author is doubtlessly Caius Plinius Secundus, known as Pliny the Elder, who compiled specialist knowledge in …

Blanket Statements, Issue 131, Seminar 2017

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 131, Seminar 2017

The Prescribed West, Evan M. Hauser

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

Design For Disassembly - A Circular Approach, Wajiha Pervez

Theses and Dissertations

As the world becomes increasingly aware of the need to better care for the environment, innovative business models are helping to counter the damage of the fast fashion system - a phenomenon in the fashion industry whereby production processes are expedited in order to get new trends to the market as quickly and cheaply as possible.

Designing products with a focus on their renewability can shift the product-consumer relationship. The closed loop concept of a “circular economy” is emerging as a viable and promising solution to the current linear business model.

This study explores the possibilities of a more mindful …

Tools And Crafts, The Terminology Of Textile Manufacturing In 1st-Millennium Bc Babylonia, Louise Quillien

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

What did sheep shears in the 1st millennium BC Babylonia look like? We are not sure. Many cuneiform texts were written about textile work in Babylonia, but it was largely about administration or accounting. There were hardly any descriptions of the actual tools and processes. In this article we go back over the words, the iconography, and the archaeology in an attempt to find these missing descriptions. This study is limited to Babylonia during the 1st millennium BC, and this period correspond to a state of the Akkadian language, called Neo-Babylonian. At these times, major evolution took place. Mesopotamia entered …

Garments, Parts Of Garments, And Textile Techniques In The Assyrian Terminology: The Neo-Assyrian Textile Lexicon In The 1st-Millennium Bc Linguistic Context, Salvatore Gaspa

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

At its political and territorial apex in the 8th and 7th centuries BC, Assyria developed into an imperial society characterised by the coexistence of languages and cultures of various origins. The policy of deporting and resettling conquered peoples across the Empire’s territory caused the spread of the Aramaic language and alphabetic script as well as the use of Aramaic as a co-official language alongside Akkadian. The linguistic change caused by these events in the Empire’s core territory emerges from the late stage of the Assyrian dialect, which shows the impact of Aramaic on various grammatical and lexical elements of the …

Textile Terminologies, State Of The Art And New Directions, Salvatore Gaspa, Cécile Michel, Marie-Louise Nosch

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The first published volume dedicated to the diachronic study of ancient textile terminologies gathered contributions on Semitic and Indo- European studies based on texts dated mainly to the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC.1 It provided a rich body of data and the first steps in elaborating a methodology of how to analyse textile terminologies and technologies according to various categories. Yet, it also highlighted the problems that were encounter in such studies. For example, some areas such as Greece, Italy, Anatolia and Italy are rich in texts providing numerous textile terms but do not yield many ancient textiles, which can …

List Of Contributors

Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC to 1000 AD

The 42 contributors include Salvatore Gaspa, Cécile Michel, Marie-Louise Nosch, Elena Soriga, Louise Quillien, Luigi Malatacca, Nahum Ben-Yehuda, Christina Katsikadeli, Orit Shamir, Agnes Korn, Georg Warning, Birgit Anette Olsen, Stella Spantidaki, Peder Flemestad, Peter Herz, Ines Bogensperger, Herbert Graßl, Mary Harlow, Berit Hildebrandt, Magdalena Öhrman, Roland Schuhmann, Kerstin Droß-Krüpe, John Peter Wild, Maria Mossakowska-Gaubert, Julia Galliker, Anne Regourd, Fiona J. L. Handley, Götz König, Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo, Stefan Niederreiter, Oswald Panagl, Giovanni Fanfani, Le Wang, Feng Zhao, Mari Omura, Naoko Kizawa, Maciej Szymaszek, Francesco Meo, Felicitas Maeder, Kalliope Sarri, Susanne Lervad, and Tove Engelhardt Mathiassen.