epitrachelion

English

WOTD – 7 May 2017

Etymology

An epitrachelion

Borrowed from Byzantine Greek ἐπιτραχήλιον (epitrakhḗlion), from Ancient Greek ἐπιτραχήλιος (epitrakhḗlios, “on the neck”) + -ιον (-ion, “diminutive suffix forming nouns”). ἐπιτραχήλιος (epitrakhḗlios) is from ἐπι- (epi-, “on, upon, on top of, covering”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi (“on; at; near”)) + τράχηλος (trákhēlos, “neck”) + -ῐος (-ios) (from Proto-Indo-European *-yós (“suffix forming adjectives”)).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɛpɪtɹəˈkiliɒn/, /ˌɛpɪtɹəˈkiljən/, /-ˈkiː-/
- Audio (UK) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌɛpɪtɹɑˈkiliɔn/
Hyphenation: epi‧tra‧che‧li‧on

Noun

epitrachelion (plural epitrachelions)

(Eastern Orthodoxy) The liturgical vestment worn by priests and bishops of the Eastern Orthodox Church as the symbol of their priesthood, corresponding to the Western stole.
- 1984, Robert Silverberg, “Thomas the Proclaimer”, in Sailing to Byzantium, San Francisco, Calif.: Underwood–Miller, →ISBN; republished New York, N.Y.: IBooks, 2000, →ISBN, page 232:
  [A] little band of marchers displays Greek Orthodox outfits, the rhason and sticharion, the epitrachelion and the epimanikia, the sakkos, the epigonation, the zone, the omophorion; they brandish icons and enkolpia, dikerotikera and dikanikion.
- 1987, The New Encyclopædia Britannica, volume 26, 15th edition, Chicago, Ill.: Encyclopædia Britannica, →ISBN, page 878, column 2:
  The epitrachelion is the Orthodox equivalent of the stole, but it hangs straight instead of being crossed over the chest, as is the case with the stole in Western churches.
- 2014, Linda Safran, “Notes”, in The Medieval Salento: Art and Identity in Southern Italy (Middle Ages Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, →ISBN, page 373, footnote 14:
  The colorful tassels of the visible ends of the hierarchs' epitrachelions suggest a late-fourteenth century date.

Coordinate terms

alb
epigonation
epimanikion
maniple
omophorion
rhason
sakkos
sticharion
zone

Translations

vestment

Belarusian: епітрахі́ль f (jepitraxílʹ)
Finnish: epitrakiili
French: épitrachelion m
German: Epitrachelion n
Greek: επιτραχήλιο (el) n (epitrachílio)
Ancient: ἐπιτραχήλιον (epitrakhḗlion)
Romanian: epitrahil (ro) n, patrafir (ro) n
Russian: епитрахи́ль (ru) f (jepitraxílʹ)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: епитрахиљ f
Roman: epitrahilj (sh) f
Spanish: epitrachelion m
Ukrainian: єпітрахи́ль f (jepitraxýlʹ)

References

“epitrachelion”, in Collins English Dictionary, accessed 11 February 2017.
“epitrachelion”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
“epitrachelion”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, retrieved 11 February 2017, reproduced from Stuart Berg Flexner, editor in chief, Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Random House, 1993, →ISBN.