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medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

Hi, Henk,

Have to be carful with etymologies. The one you cited seemed forced; 
so, I looked it up...

According to the OED, English "cabinet" (ca. 1500 -- spelled cabanet, 
cabonet, cabbonet ) from the spelling appears to be the diminuative 
of English "cabane," "cabin" (ca. 1400) -- a temporary shelter of 
slight materials -- which apparently derives via Anglo-Norman from 
Late Latin capanna and appears in "Isidore ...hoc rustici capanna 
vocant" in the 9th-century Reichenau Glosses. Seems the Italian 
"gabinetto" and Spanish "gabinete" also go back to capanna.

It's easy enough to follow the semantic range extending from a 
temporary hut to a small temporary room, to a small permanent room, 
to a cupboard, to a closed cupboard (ca. 1530)... which does not need 
to have drawers to be a cabinet.

No cabinets? Then what about Latin armarium: "a cupboard, set upright 
in the wall of a room, in which were kept not only arms, but also 
clothes, books, money, ornaments, small images and pictures, and 
other articles of value. The armarium was generally placed in the 
atrium of the house 
(<http://webu2.upmf-grenoble.fr/Haiti/Cours/Ak/Corpus/d-33.htm#10>Dig. 
33 tit. 10 s.3; 
<http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/cicero/cluentio.shtml#179.3>Cic. Pro 
Cluent. 64; <http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/petronius1.html>Petron. 
Sat. 29; Plin. H. N. 
<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/29*.html#101>XXIX.5 
s32, 
<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/35*.html#6>XXXV.2). 
The divisions of a library were called armaria 
(<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/7*.html#Intro.7>Vitruv. 
VII. 
Prae<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Vitruvius/7*.html#Intro.7>f.; 
<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Historia_Augusta/Tacitus*.html#8>Vopisc. 
Tac. 8). We find armarium distegum mentioned as a kind of sepulchre 
in an inscription in Gruter (p388, No. 4)." (Smith, 
<http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA/home.html>

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

Or, scrinium, a wooden bookcase/chest. These pieces of furniture were 
upright and not meant for portablity.

And as Chris points out, chests are cabinets. Stand a chest on one 
end and you have what we refer to as a cabinet.... which does not 
have to have drawers or two doors -- one door will suffice -- if the 
frame is not too wide..

To get back to 1st century, as long as people had to move themselves 
and their equipment (whatever type of equipment -- clothes, tools, 
bedding) around -- you needed portability. Chests (backpacks and 
saddlebags) make more sense. If an artisan had work brought to him or 
her -- as would be the general case with smithies, then portability 
did not matter. BUT, woodworkers on buildings went to the project.

There is always a social factor for a given time frame that is part 
of the equation.

Hmm, better go back to lurking.

Rochelle

>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>You wrote:
>
>[snip]
>Let me explain. A cabinet originally was a little room. (Italian: 
>gabinetto, from gabbia: cage, which comes from latin: cavea; at 
>least that's what my etymological dictionary says). It was the place 
>where learned men and princes of 15th c Italy liked to retire to and 
>receive special guests who were shown the collections of books or 
>objects these men kept in there. For this they had cupboards made 
>(the name is significant, it really means a board to put crockery 
>on, but became a lockable, high and free standing receptacle) fixed 
>to the walls and behind doors. Later drawers were added. In the 16th 
>c people who had travelled to Italy brought this idea back to their 
>homes and introduced it to France, the Low Countries, Germany and 
>England. Not everybody was rich enough to build a whole room to 
>house their art or items collections and had separate cupboards 
>made. These usually consisted of a set of large drawers on the lower 
>part and a separate upper area with lots of little drawers behind 
>two doors. There were all kinds of variations. During the 17th c 
>this upper part was often connected with a desk making it a bureau-cabinet.
>
>Except for extremely late medieval Italy, probably after 1450, but I 
>may be wrong there, the word cabinet was not known and in that 
>country was a room not a cupboard. Hence during the Middle Ages 
>there were no cabinets in the sense of a cupboard with lots of 
>drawers and 2 doors made.
>
>[snip]
>And all I wanted was to point out that a tekton would not have been 
>called a cabinet-maker during the middle ages but a joiner.... or a 
>smith, or whatever.
>
>Henk

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