Pall - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

PALL, a word the various meanings of which can be traced to the Latin word pallium, that is, a piece of cloth used either as a covering or as a garment. In the last sense the pallium was the ipivrcov, the square or oblong-shaped outer garment of the Greeks. In the sense of a garment the English usage of "pall" is confined to the ecclesiastical vestment (see Pallium) and to the supertunica or dalmatic, the pallium regale or imperial mantle, one of the principal coronation vestments of British sovereigns. The heraldic bearing known as a "pall" takes the form of the Y of the ecclesiastical vestment. The chief applications of the word, in the sense of a covering, are to an altar frontal, to a linen cloth used to veil the chalice in the Catholic service of the Eucharist, and to a heavy black, purple or white covering for a coffin or hearse. The livery companies of London possessed sumptuous state palls for the funerals of their members, of which some are still in existence. The Merchant Taylors' company have two examples of Italian workmanship. The so-called "Walworth pall" of the Fishmongers' company probably dates from the 16th century. The Vintners' pall is of 'cloth of gold and purple velvet, with a figure of St Martin of Tours, the company's patron saint.

An entirely different word is "to pall," to become or make stale, insipid or tasteless, hence to cease to interest from constant repetition; this is a shortened form of "appal" (0. Fr. appallir, to become pale; Lat. pallidus).