Chape et cape: histoire de mode et de terminologie

Fashion offers a vast field for terminology research with remarkable opportunities to follow specialised terms as they become words in everyday use. The diachronic perspective makes it possible to explore the histories of the materials and styles used: these terms thus retain the meanings of evolving tastes, choices from the period in which they lived and were produced, in a given linguistic and cultural context. This article focuses on a particular type of travel cloak worn in antiquity - the "paenula" - which was used to protect against the rain. This pluvial cloak is the origin of the "chape" and the "cape". The history of these two coats, the chape and the cape, is intertwined and differentiated over time: as a result of synonymic variation, their respective meanings drift apart over time, giving rise to terms that are no longer interchangeable. This diachronic reconstruction of terminological journeys is based on lexicographical and textual documentation and describes the shifts in meaning that have occurred, as well as changes in clothing habits and contemporary fashion trends.