On Thu, 14 Jul 2005, Marc Carlson wrote: > >From: Cynthia Virtue <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Did you skip a cite there? I don't see something which says it wasn't > >worn with some kind of body linen layer under it. "a body garment or > >coat" seems to imply "tunic" could apply to both layers. > > I think we're interpretting what the "body" applies to "alone", or 'garment > or coat" equally. You may well be right, I don't know.
The MED quote you gave was "A garment resembling a shirt or gown, worn alone or beneath a mantle, armor, etc." It sounds to me that they were contrasting "worn alone" as versus "worn with another layer over it." I don't see any implication as to whether anything was or wasn't worn *under* it. Underwear (being unseen and also not much thought about by non-clothing historians) is typically ignored in these types of definitions. In the same way, I might say that the fitted dress could be worn "alone" or with a sideless surcote or houppeland over it, but that wouldn't mean that there's no chemise beneath. The phrase "body garment" was used not in the same quote as "alone"; it was in another source, the OED, as you quote: "In Old English and mediaeval times, a body garment or coat over which a loose mantle of cloak was worn." My understanding is that "body garment" doesn't mean "body linen" or "worn against the body" -- it means a major garment designed to cover the body (that is, the torso, with or without limbs), e.g. a gown or shirt or coat. It's used in the same way that "headdress" is a generic term for a garment covering the head or "footwear" is a general term for garments covering the feet. I suppose "body garment" could be applied to garments that cover part of the body, particularly taken as a set (e.g. a man's suit), but usually individual garment names are used to distinguish pieces like trousers, blouses, skirts. As a category, they can all be lumped in as "body garments" as opposed to "headdress" and "footwear." As I've been accustomed to reading it, if there's any implication of layer in "body garment," it's typically a visible layer. I probably wouldn't blink to see a chemise described as a body garment, though. It's a very generic categorical term. --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
