Camisia

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A loose-fitting undergarment or shirt, typically worn beneath outer clothing; a type of simple ancient or traditional tunic; a piece of clothing used for warmth or modesty
2. A basic garment worn close to the skin, usually loose and resembling a tunic; an article of clothing historically common as a kind of undershirt or smock; fabric covering worn for comfort or protection
3. A medieval or classical-style shirt or undershirt, usually lightweight and loose; clothing designed to be worn beneath other garments; a type of simple, often linen, tunic serving as innerwear

Etymology: The Latin "camisia" named a linen shirt worn next to the skin, and its ancestry is less settled than the tidy Latin label suggests. Scholars have long debated whether it was borrowed from a Celtic or Germanic source, with the shift in meaning from a plain garment to a particular kind of undershirt being the part that most readers would find surprising. The English form "camisa" followed from Latin in the Middle Ages, but the word's present-day English life is mostly preserved in its descendants, such as "chemise," which passed through Old French. The word's story is one of gradual narrowing: a general term for a shirt became attached, in Late Latin and then the medieval languages, to the linen layer that sat directly against the body. That is the sense English took up, which is why the modern noun still points to undergarments rather than outerwear.

Synonyms: shirt, tunic, blouse