Surplice

Definition: Surplice

Surplice

Noun

1. A loose-fitting white ecclesiastical vestment with wide sleeves.

Date "surplice" was first used: 12th century. (references)

Etymology: Surplice \Sur"plice\, noun. [French expression surplis, Old French surpeiz, Late Latin expression superpellicium; super over pellicium, pelliceum, robe of fur, from Latin expression pellicius made of skins. See Pelisse.]. (Websters 1913)

Domain	Definition
Industry	Religious vestment. Source: European Union. (references)
Literature	Surplice (2 syl.). Over the fur robe. (Latin, super-pellicium.) The clerical robe worn over the bachelor's ordinary dress, which was anciently made of sheepskin. The ancient Celts and Germans also wore a garment occasionally over their fur skins. Durandus says: "The garments of the Jewish priesthood were girt tight about them, to signify the bondage of the law; but the surplice of the Christian priest is loose, to signify the freedom of the gospel." Source: Brewer's Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

A surplice (from the Late Latin superpelliceum; from super (over) and pellis (fur); sobrepellice in Spanish; surplis in French; cotta in Italian and Chorrock (choir coat) in German) comprises a liturgical vestment of the Christian Church. It has the form of a tunic of white linen or cotton material, with wide or moderately wide sleeves, reaching - according to the Roman use — barely to the hips and elsewhere in the churches of the Roman communion to the knee. It usually features lace decoration, but in modern times - in Germany at least - it may also have embroidered bordures.

The surplice originally reached to the feet, but as early as the 13th century it began to shorten, though as late as the 15th century it still fell to the middle of the shin, and only in the 17th and 18th centuries did it become considerably shorter. In several localities it underwent more drastic modifications in the course of time, which led to the appearance of various subsidiary forms alongside the original type. For example:

the sleeveless surplice, which featured holes at the sides to put the arms through
the surplice with slit-up arms or lappels (so-called "wings") instead of sleeves
the surplice with not only the sleeves but the body of the garment itself slit up the sides, precisely like the modern dalmatic
a sort of surplice in the form of a bell-shaped mantle, with a hole for the head, which necessitated the arms sticking out under the hem.

The first two of these forms developed very early; and, in spite of their prohibition by synods here and there (for example that of Liege circa 1287), they survive in various places to the present day. The latter two only appeared after the close of the middle ages: the first of them in South Germany, the second more especially in Venetia, where numerous pictorial records attest its use. As a rule, however, only the lower clergy wore these subsidiary forms of surplice. They came about partly under the influence of secular fashions, but more particularly for convenience.

The surplice belongs to the vestes sacrae, though it requires no benediction. All clerics may wear it, even those who have only received the tonsure, the bishop himself vesting with it those whom he has newly tonsured. It has very varied use in divine service. It is worn in choir at the solemn offices; it forms the official sacral dress of the lower clergy in their liturgical functions; the priest wears it when administering the sacraments, undertaking benedictions, and the like -- the use of the alb being nowadays almost exclusively confined to the mass and functions connected with this. In general such use, in all main particulars, became the custom as early as the 14th century.

Lack of exact information obscures the older history of the surplice. Its name derives, as Durandus and Gerland also affirm, from the fact that its wearers formerly put it on over the fur garments formerly worn in church and at divine service as a protection against the cold. Some scholars trace the use of the surplice at least as far back as the 5th century, citing the evidence of the garments worn by the two clerics in attendance on Bishop Maximian represented in the mosaics of S. Vitale at Ravenna; in this case, however, confusing the dalmatic with the surplice. In all probability the surplice forms no more than an expansion of the ordinary liturgical alb, due to the necessity for wearing it over thick furs. The first documents to mention the surplice date from the 11th century: a canon of the synod of Coyaca in Spain (1050); and an ordinance of King Edward the Confessor. Rome knew the surplice at least as early as the 12th century. It probably originated outside Rome, and was imported thence into the Roman use. Originally only a choir vestment and peculiar to lower clergy, it gradually - certainly no later than the 13th century — replaced the alb as the vestment proper to the administering of the sacraments and other sacerdotal functions.

The Oriental rites lack a surplice and any analogous vestment. Of the non-Roman Catholic Churches in the West the surplice has continued in regular use only in the Lutheran churches of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and in the Church of England.

Church of England

The second Anglican Prayer Book, that of Edward VI in 1549, prescribed the surplice as, with the tippet or the academical hood, the sole vestment of the minister of the church at "all times of their ministration", the rochet being practically regarded as the episcopal surplice. The more extreme Reformers furiously assailed its use, but in spite of their efforts, Elizabeth's Act of Uniformity (1559) retained the garment, and the advertisements and injunctions issued under her authority enforced its use, though they ordered the destruction of the "massing vestments" - chasubles, albs, stoles and the like.

The surplice has since remained, with the exception of the cope, the sole vestment authorised by law for the ministers, other than bishops, of the Church of England (for the question of the vestments prescribed by the "Ornaments Rubric" see vestment). And apart from clerks in holy orders, all the "ministers" (including vicars-choral and choristers) of cathedral and collegiate churches, as well as the fellows and scholars of colleges in chapel have worn surplices since the Reformation. The clergy (at least its more dignified members) have employed as a distinctive mark the tippet or scarf above mentioned, a broad band of black silk worn stole-wise, but not to be confused with the stole, since it has no liturgical significance and originally formed a mere part of the clerical outdoor dress. Formerly the clergy only wore the surplice when conducting the service, and exchanged it during the sermon for the "black gown", i.e. either a Geneva gown or the gown of an academical degree. This custom has, however, as a result of the High Church movement, become almost completely obsolete. The "black gown", considered wrongly as the ensign of Low Church views, survives in comparatively few of even evangelical churches; however, preachers of university sermons retained the custom of wearing the gown of their degree.

The traditional form of the surplice in the Church of England survived from pre-Reformation times, viz: a wide-sleeved, very full, plain, white linen tunic, pleated from the yoke, and reaching almost, or quite, to the feet. Towards the end of the 17th century, when large wigs came into fashion, it became convenient to have surplices constructed gown-wise, open down the front and buttoned at the neck, a fashion which still partially survives, notably at the universities. In general, however, the tendency followed continental influence, and curtailed the surplice's proportions. The ample vestment with beautiful falling folds has thus in many churches given place to a scanty, unpleated garment scarce reaching to the knee. In the more "extreme" churches the surplices frankly imitate the Roman cotta.

Original text from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Canonicals	Noun: canonicals, vestments; robe, gown, Geneva gown frock, pallium, surplice, cassock, dalmatic, scapulary, cope, mozetta, scarf, tunicle, chasuble, alb, alba, stole; fanon, fannel; tonsure, cowl, hood; calote, calotte; bands; capouch, amice; vagas, vakas, vakass; apron, lawn sleeves, pontificals, pall; miter, tiara, triple crown; shovel hat, cardinal's hat; biretta; crosier; pastoral staff, thurifer; costume.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Surplice

English words defined with "surplice": surpliced. (references)

"Surplice" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 95.45% of the time. "Surplice" is used about 22 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	95.45%	21	76,261
Lexical Verb (base form)	4.55%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	22	N/A

Expression using "surplice": surplice fees. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "surplice": surplice-shrouded.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "surplice"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		rasë prifti. (various references)

Arabic		‏رداء كهنوتي (tunic, vestment). (various references)

Czech		komže. (various references)

Danish		messeskjorte, korskjorte. (various references)

Dutch		superplie, koorhemd. (various references)

Farsi		ردای کتانی سفیدوگشادکشیشان . (various references)

French		surplis. (various references)

German		Chorhemd. (various references)

Greek		επιτραχήλιο (stole), λευκό ράσο, λευκό άμφιο. (various references)

Hebrew		אפו�" (covering, ephod, tunic, vest). (various references)

Hungarian		miseing (Alb), karing. (various references)

Italian		cotta (cooked). (various references)

Manx		lheiney chillagh. (various references)

Pig Latin		urplicesay

Portuguese		sobrepeliz. (various references)

Romanian		stihar (Alb), anteriu (gown). (various references)

Russian		стихарь (alb). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		stola. (various references)

Spanish		sobrepelliz. (various references)

Swedish		mässkjorta. (various references)

Turkish		cüppe (cassock, chasuble, frock, gown, robe, surcoat, tabard, vestment). (various references)

Ukrainian		стихар (rochet). (various references)

Vietnamese		áo thụng, áo tế. (various references)

Welsh		gwenwisg. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	pellis, super. (various references)
Medieval Latin	700-1500	superpellicium. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "surplice": surplices. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Surplice" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Euroluce, eurolycee, semplici, Serpico, supalite, surplace, surprice. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Words rhyming with "surplice" (pronounced 'Sur"plice'): Accomplice, Complice. (additional references)

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "c-e-i-l-p-r-s-u"
	-1 letter: scruple, spicule, splicer.
	-2 letters: cripes, cruise, cupels, curies, lisper, lucres, perils, piculs, pileus, pliers, precis, prices, pulers, pulser, relics, slicer, sluice, spicer, splice, spruce, ulcers, uprise.
	-3 letters: ceils, cires, clips, clues, cries, cripe, crisp, cruel, cruse, cupel, cures, curie, curls, curse, ecrus, epics, ileus, liers, lieus, luces, lucre, lures, peril, peris, picul, piers.
	Words containing the letters "c-e-i-l-p-r-s-u"
	+1 letter: peculiars, republics, supercoil, surplices.
	+2 letters: crumpliest, preciously, preclusion, preclusive, supercoils, superslick.
	+3 letters: apicultures, copublisher, lectureship, pitcherfuls, pitchersful, preclusions, putrescible, republicans, resculpting, sepulchring, specularity, spherulitic, supercoiled, superficial.
	+4 letters: capitularies, copublishers, corpulencies, cupronickels, lectureships, microcapsule, neuroleptics, particulates, percussively, perniciously, pisciculture, plutocracies, portcullises, precariously, preclusively, precociously, pulchritudes, reduplicates, sepulchering, superciliary, supercilious, supercoiling, supercooling, superhelical, superhelices, superplastic, superspecial, ultraprecise.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day
home page pryce surplice	9
pryce surplice	9
surplice	8
surplice top	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Surplice

Definition: Surplice

Surplice

Noun

Specialty Definition: Surplice

Industry

Literature

Specialty Definition: Surplice

Church of England

Synonyms within Context: Surplice

Canonicals

Crosswords: Surplice

Usage Frequency: Surplice

Expressions: Surplice

Frequency of Internet Keywords: Surplice

home page pryce surplice

pryce surplice

surplice

surplice top

Modern Translation: Surplice

Albanian

Arabic

Czech

Danish

Dutch

Farsi

French

German

Greek

Hebrew

Hungarian

Italian

Manx

Pig Latin

Portuguese

Romanian

Russian

Serbo-Croatian

Spanish

Swedish

Turkish

Ukrainian

Vietnamese

Welsh

Ancestral Language Translations: Surplice

Derivations & Misspellings: Surplice

Derivations

Misspellings

Rhyming with "Surplice"

Anagrams: Surplice

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams

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