noun · neuterthird declension
mantēle
mantēle n (genitive mantēlis)
Classical[manˈteː.ɫɛ]Ecclesiastical[manˈtɛː.le]
Meaning
- cloth to wipe hands or mouth, towel, napkin
Dant famuli manibus lymphas, Cereremque canistris
The servants give the hands waters, and deal corn from wicker baskets, and bring towels of smooth hair.29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis I.701–702 - obsoletetablecloth
Ac ne eius praetereatur miseranda solertia, veris tempore cubicula de rosis fecit. De pomis castella composuit. Uvas triennio servavit. Hieme summa melones exhibuit. Mustum quem ad modum toto anno haberetur, docuit. Ficos virides et poma ex arboribus recentia semper alienis mensibus praebuit. Mantelibus aureis semper stravit. Gemmata vasa fecit eademque aurea.
Lest his pitiable skills be left unmentioned, he used in spring-time to make sleeping-places of roses, and built castles of apples, preserved grapes for three years, and served melons in the depth of winter. He showed how new wine could be had all the whole year, and he could not but always serve out of season green figs and apples fresh from the trees, and he always spread his tables with golden covers. He made jewelled vessels, and golden ones too.300s, Trebellius Pollio, Historia Augusta Gallieni Duo.16 § 2–3
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | mantēle | mantēlia mantīlia |
| genitive | mantēlis mantēliī, mantīlī, mantīliī, mantīlis | mantēlium mantēliōrum, mantīliōrum |
| dative | mantēlī mantēliō, mantīlī, mantīliō | mantēlibus mantēliīs, mantīlibus, mantīliīs |
| accusative | mantēle | mantēlia mantīlia |
| ablative | mantēlī mantēliō, mantīlī, mantīliō | mantēlibus mantēliīs, mantīlibus, mantīliīs |
| vocative | mantēle | mantēlia mantīlia |
mantēle (mantīle), is, n., and mantēlĭum (mantīlĭum), ii, n. manus and tela, properly a cloth for the hand,
I. a towel, napkin.
I. Lit.:
mantelium, ubi manus terguntur, Varr. L. L. 6, § 85 Müll.: tonsisque ferunt mantelia villis, Verg. A. 1, 702 (v. l. mantilia); id. G. 4, 377; Plin. 7, 2, 2, § 12.—II. Transf., a table-cloth (postclass.):
mantelia nunc pro operiendis mensis sunt: quae, ut nomen ipsum indicat, olim tergendis manibus praebebantur, Isid. Orig. 19, 266; in form mantile, Treb. Galb. 16, 3.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
mantēle (-tīle) is, n
manus+TEC-, a towel, napkin : tonsis mantelia villis, with clipped nap , V., O.
Origins
A decomposition into manus (“hand”) and tergō (“to wipe, to rub”) would be semantically likely (compare Late Latin manutergium), but the morphological processes involved are murky, taking into account the variants, their relationship of which is not without doubts, and their obscuration by scribal error. In late and vulgar Latin it was confounded with and driven away by diminutive forms of the Celtic mantus, mantum (“cloak”).
Descendants
- Spanishmantel
- Byzantine Greekμανδήλη
- Galicianmantel
- Galicianmantés
- Chavacanomantélfrom Spanish mantel
- Classical Nahuatlmantēlexfrom Spanish mantel
In English words that came into English from mantēle
- mantlemantellum
- mandylionmantelium