Pall
/pɔːl/noun
A cloth covering, especially one used for a coffin or funeral; also, something that dulls or depresses.
Did you know?Pall is tied to Latin *pallium* (“cloak, mantle”), the same root behind *palliate* and *palliative*—words that originally meant to “cloak” pain, not cure it.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*pel-
“to cover, spread, or skin over”
Latin
Latin
pallium
“a cloak or mantle”
Late Latin
Latin
palliare
“to cloak, cover”
Old French
Old French
pale
“a cloth covering, especially a funeral cloth”
Middle English
English
pall
“a cloth thrown over a coffin or dead body”
Modern English
English
pall
“a funeral covering; later, a figurative sense of something that deadens or depresses”
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