< University of Manchester, Lexis of Cloth & Clothing Project, Search Result For: 'ceis'

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The Lexis of Cloth and Clothing Project

ceis

.
Searchable Lemmata: ceis (Ir).
Alternate Forms:

    Definitions and Defining Citations:

1(n.) Textile; some kind of covering or garment, possibly a horse-cloth.(ante 1200 - ante 1450 ?)
1. Mūlcheist .i. ceis 7 mell fo brágit Other. [eDIL Corp. Gen. (88.13 .) ante 1200]
2. hoc stragulum: in ceis Gloss. [eDIL Ir. Gl. (717) ante 1400]
c.f.: strail
Ir.
Sex: N/A    Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:

    Etymological Evidence:

Speculative, possibly an early borrowing of Latin pexa (which also gave Welsh pais), either direct from Latin or from Brittonic, with regular substitution of kw>c- for p- in early Latin loans; though there may be overlap with the word ces 'wickerwork, causeway made from wickerwork' which is a cognate of L. pexa. Present citation 1 is the epithet of an early (and perhaps semi-historical) king Fergus of the Laígis in Leinster, known as Múlcheist (perhaps 'Mule-troubled'), who has a ceis and a mell (ball) under his throat. DIL refers to unpublished manuscript notes by Charles Plummer, explaining this word as 'horse cloth'; it is possible Plummer was aware of the Múlcheist citation. On the other hand, a late medieval gloss the word is equated with stragulum (see strail) which normally refers to a covering (garment, furnishing spread or similar) of reasonable quality.
WF:
Etym Cog: pexa, peus.
References: