Calath

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A wide, open basket of woven wicker, like the ancient Greek one used for holding wool ; the bell-shaped central body of a Corinthian column capital
2. An ancient Greek style of broad woven basket for wool ; the basket-like central form at the top of a Corinthian column
3. A shallow woven basket once used for storing wool ; the flared, bell-like core from which the leaves of a Corinthian capital spring

Etymology: A "calath" is a basket, and the word has stayed in English mainly as a term for a particular kind of basket-shaped headdress or wicker vessel. It comes from Latin "calathus," which in turn was borrowed from Greek "kalathos," a basket made of woven osiers or reeds. The Greek word was used of the wide, flaring baskets that held wool and fruit, and the same basket shape turned up in ancient art, where it sat on the heads of figures such as the dancers and caryatids of Greek sculpture. That image is the reason the word survived. Classical writers and later antiquarians described the Greek "kalathos" as a basket-shaped hat or crown, and English adopted "calath" in this sense, first in the sense of a cylindrical headdress worn by women in classical-revival dress, and later as a term for the basket-like form itself in art and archaeology. Its use in English is largely confined to scholarly and historical writing, so it remains a learned borrowing rather than an everyday word.

Synonyms: basket