On Tue, 27 Apr 1999 17:45:41 -0400 (EDT) Thomas Izbicki
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> According to the Oxford Latin Dictionary, "cucullus" means hood; the hood
> does not make the monk.
>
But it can also mean in medieval Latin (which of course OLD doesn't
cover) the long, sleeveless, hooded overgarment worn by monks (I
speak subject to correction by any monks on the list . . .). The
point of the saying seems to be less legal than moral; the later
French translation of _Ancrene Wisse_ cites a Latin couplet, which I
haven't got round to checking in Walther:
Larga corona satis, uestis nigra, bota [sic, for copa?] rotunda
Non faciunt monachum, sed mens a crimine munda
(‘A generous tonsure, black clothing, do not prove a monk's
profession,
Nor does a rounded cope, but a spirit pure from trangression').
Bella M.
----------------------
Bella Millett
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