Diccionario Histórico de Telas y Tejidos. Castellano

Textile History
ISSN: 0040-4969 (Print) 1743-2952 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ytex20
Diccionario histórico de telas y tejidos. Castellano

— Catalán
Lesley Miller
To cite this article: Lesley Miller (2009) Diccionario histórico de telas y tejidos. Castellano —
Catalán, Textile History, 40:1, 128-129
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/004049609788403323
Published online: 19 Jul 2013.
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Download by: [University of Georgia] Date: 07 April 2016, At: 18:12

Textile History, 40 (1), 128–130, May 2009
Book Reviews
Rosa M.A Dávila Corona, Montserrat appeared most frequently in their primary
Duran Pujol and Máximo García sources, classify them by fibre, and situate
Fernández, Diccionario histórico de their usage chronologically. Their starting
telas y tejidos. Castellano — Catalán. point was post mortem inventories, mar-
Junta de Castilla y León, Salamanca, riage settlements and valuations of commer-
2004. 301 pp. €22. isbn 84-9718-206-5. cial goods, and in the case of Catalonia, the
Bolla tax on textile, skinners’ and weavers’
Understanding and interpreting accurately shops. To arrive at definitions, they con-
textile terminology are major challenges for sulted a variety of printed sources: main-
historians, whether dealing with their native stream dictionaries dating from 1611 to
or with a second language. This unpreten- 1992, recent specialist literature on textile
tious and supremely portable dictionary is terminology (Hardouin-Fugier and Berthod)
therefore extremely welcome as it offers and in-depth socio-economic histories of
Textile History 2009.40:128-129.
simple definitions for certain Castilian and textile centres (e.g. silk in the Languedoc
Catalan words. The by-product of several and Valencia, wool in Clermont de Lodève
interlinked research projects funded by the and Zamora). The bibliography reveals the
former Spanish Education and Science targeting of some multi-lingual dictionaries
Ministry and undertaken by the Universities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
of Valladolid and Barcelona between 1994 other publications available in Spanish and
and 2001, it grew out of research into pur- Catalan, and a few in the closely related
chasing power, standards of living and the Romance languages of French and Italian.
history of consumption in those two regions The linguistic bias is not surprising, given
from the end of the Middle Ages to about Spain’s long-standing dynastic and imperial
1850. The research teams soon realized the relationship with France and Italy. World
need for a tool that would allow them to Textiles. A Visual Guide to Traditional
establish the equivalence between different Techniques (in its Spanish translation of
— often very similar — words and also 2000) by John Gillow and Bryan Sentence
facilitate the identification of particular acted as the source for information on weave
products. Their task was all the more structures, given at the end of the Intro-
complex because the period in question duction. It was evidently the only book con-
witnessed major changes in the textile sector sulted from the Anglo-American tradition
in Spain, as well as the introduction of new in textile scholarship, perhaps surprisingly
products from abroad, notably from the given the immense contribution to the inter-
East Indies. national textiles trade of the British textile
The prologue to the volume draws atten- industry in the period under review, the
tion to the fact that these words constitute number of words in the dictionary that
an aspect of ‘history from below’, as they clearly derive from that trade or have an
originated in exchanges between merchants, English root, and the choice of image for the
muleteers, agricultural workers, and the dust-jacket. The word ‘Norwich’ jumps out
comfortable and middle classes, all of whom from the last, which is a reproduction of a
created an appropriate and common vocab- page of textile samples from the Moccafy
ulary for their own activities outside that of manuscript, compiled by an Italian busi-
officialdom (pp. 8–9). The authors’ aim was nessman between 1766–67 and now con-
not to create an exhaustive list of terms but served in the Bibliothèque Forney in Paris.
rather to bring together those words which Made in Norwich, these ‘stuffs’ were largely
© Pasold Research Fund Ltd 2009 DOI: 10.1179/174329509x424677
Book Reviews
for export to Spain and its colonies, yet do achievement is impressive as there is no
not seem to feature in the dictionary. Their prior publication of this sort. Invaluable in
absence is intriguing, stimulus for another establishing rigorous procedures, their work
research project. will no doubt become a classic reference
The introduction makes clear the book, affordable by individual scholars as
authors’ desire for a methodical approach well as institutions. It lays the foundations
to, and rigorous referencing for, the diction- for future developments which would
ary’s 1,877 entries. Laid out in alphabetical benefit from collaboration with curators
order, the Castilian word precedes its in Spain’s textile museums, as well as with
Catalan equivalent, an index at the end of colleagues working on textile terminology
the book giving access the other way round. internationally. Anglo-American and French
Each entry offers an indication of the term’s scholars have been active in unravelling
status as technique or textile, the name of historic textile terminology for some
the fibre or fibres of which it was made, decades, some of their efforts growing out of
and a single definition of what the fabric museum practice. The drive to link words
was and when it was in use — or, where with surviving textiles has been significant
appropriate, multiple definitions and sub- and the use of commercial sample books and
categories. The definitions are presented in other manuscript sources most productive
chronological order of usage, the literary (cf. the work of Montgomery, Rothstein,
source of each following in a systematic Clabburn, Coural and Vrignaud).
Textile History 2009.40:128-129.
ordering (dictionary references precede

Lesley Miller
quotations from printed or manuscript
V&A, London
sources). Thus, the reader always knows
which authority is being cited. The entry for
Droguete/Droguet underlines the challenge Juliane von Fircks, Liturgische Gewänder
faced: made of wool, silk or a mixture of des Mittelalters aus St Nikolai in Stralsund,
fibres, three different descriptions are neces- 367 pp., 255 ills., ISBN 978-3-905014-37-2.
sary, the first based on the testimony of dic- CHF 195/ EUR 125.
tionaries dating from 1726 to 1992, as well
as on two works by French historians; the In this sumptuously illustrated book, con-
second based on a Spanish economic treatise taining introductory essays, a catalogue
of 1787–1800 and a twentieth-century aca- and glossary, Juliane von Fircks presents
demic study in Italian; and the third based a detailed, scholarly study of medieval
on three dictionary/encyclopaedia references vestments from the church of St Nikolai
and one academic study. There then follow in Stralsund. Situated on the Strelasund, a
specific sub categories: droguete apanado, sound of the Baltic Sea separating the island
droguete cruzado, droguete de hilo, droguete of Rügen from the mainland, Stralsund was
no cruzado, and droguetillo. In some entries a member of the Hanseatic League from
the place of making or origin and the most 1293. Like several other northern German
common use of the textile are indicated cities, from the fourteenth century it was
briefly (e.g. for woman’s veiling, men’s suit- home to a ‘Kalands brotherhood’ (Lat.
ing, packaging, etc.). The number of cases Fratres Calendarii): a confraternity of clergy
where this information is not available and the laity, whose name arose from the
leaves the reader pondering how to access monthly meetings of the clergy. During the
information on the relative quality of differ- middle ages, the confraternity had its chapel
ent fabrics, and their place in the social and in the church of St Nikolai, and in the six-
economic hierarchy of textiles. For readers teenth century, during the Reformation,
who wish to access terminology via fibre transformed itself from a spiritual and char-
or technique, the book ends with an Index itable to a primarily charitable association.
ordered appropriately. It is a group of vestments formerly belong-
The authors are well aware of the ing to this confraternity, which has since
shortcomings of their work. Yet, their the nineteenth century been in the former
129

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Textile History

ISSN: 0040-4969 (Print) 1743-2952 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ytex20

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/004049609788403323

Published online: 19 Jul 2013.

Submit your article to this journal

View related articles

Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

Download by: [University of Georgia] Date: 07 April 2016, At: 18:12

ordering (dictionary references precede

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