Chesible

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A sleeveless outer garment worn by a priest over the other vestments during the celebration of Mass
2. An archaic spelling for the sleeveless liturgical robe that a priest puts on over the alb when celebrating Mass
3. The loose, sleeveless vestment of a Christian priest, traditionally worn as the outermost layer during Mass

Etymology: The word "chesible" is an obsolete form of "chasuble," the sleeveless vestment worn by a priest over the other garments at Mass. Its history starts with an ordinary object: the Latin "casula" meant "little cottage" or a hooded cloak, a diminutive of "casa," meaning "house." A cloak was, in effect, a small house you could wear, and that picture stayed attached to the garment for centuries. The Latin form was altered in Late Latin to "casubla," and the word passed into Old French as "chesible," which carried it into Middle English in the same shape you see here. The English spelling "chesible" was the medieval form, and later writers gradually shifted it toward the "chasuble" spelling we use now, which is why the older form survives mainly in historical texts.