subuculan.

Etymology: < classical Latin subucula undertunic, in post-classical Latin also undertunic worn by a priest in the Old Testament (Vulgate) < sub- sub- prefix + -uere to put (only attested in compounds, e.g. exuere exute v., induere : see endue v.) + -cula -cula suffix.Latin subucula is attested in use in Anglo-Saxon England as a term for an undertunic (a709 in Aldhelm), but apparently not with reference to ecclesiastical vestments. In continental sources, the word is occasionally attested from the 9th cent. or earlier as a term for different kinds of ecclesiastical vestments, especially the tunicle worn by bishops, in allusion to medieval exegesis of the use of the term in the Vulgate (Leviticus 8:7). In the following example Capgrave claims that one possible meaning of post-classical Latin subucula is ‘alb’; however, the transmitted text of the cited source, the early 13th-cent. Latin life of St Gilbert of Sempringham (1083–1189), does not seem to contain the word, and, in fact, in the relevant passage reference is made to an unspecified garment (vestis ):c1451 J. Capgrave Life St. Gilbert (1910) 125 My auctor her setteth a word ‘subucula’ whech is both an awbe and a schert. The immediate origin of sense 2 is apparently B. Thorpe's emendation of the transmission error subumlem to subuculam in quot. OE below (the passage translated by him in quot. 1840 at sense 2), but this emendation is probably incorrect. The variant reading in MS Junius probably preserves the correct form: subumbrale , a rare word attested once elsewhere in Old English as a term for an ecclesiastical vestment, perhaps an amice (see quot. lOE) < post-classical Latin subhumerale amice (9th cent.; < sub- sub- prefix + -humerale (in superhumerale superhumeral n.)); compare post-classical Latin subhumeralis (adjective) designating the part (of a garment) below the shoulders (with reference to a chasuble) (c1245 in a British source). Quot. 1660 repeats the original error of MS Corpus. Compare:OE Wulfstan Canons of Edgar (Corpus Cambr.) (1972) xxxiii. 8 Ælc preost habbe corporalem þonne he mæssige and subumlem [OE Junius subumbrale] under his alban.lOE Rec. Gifts of Bp. Æðelwold to Peterborough (Sawyer 1448) in S. E. Kelly Charters of Peterborough Abbey (2009) 324 iiii cæppan, & i roc, & viii stolan, emfela handlina, & xi subumbrale, & ii pistolclaþas, & iii corporale.1660 R. Coke Elements Power & Subjection 162 in Justice Vindicated That every Priest celebrating Mass, hath his Corporal, and Subumle under his Alban.