MANTLE. This, in the A. V., is the term used to render four Hebrew words, viz.— r. rrn,t, a feminine noun, from ample,' and therefore probably meaning a large over-gar ment like the Roman pallium. The LXX. ren der it by ,unXem) (a sheep's skin), r Kings xix. 13, etc. ; SeMis, Zech. xiii. 4 ; and Sopd, Gen. xxv. 25. From the passages in which it is mentioned we can conjecture its nature. It is used most frequently (I Kings xix. ; 2 Kings ii. 8, 13, etc.) of Elijah's mantle,' which was in all probability a mere sheepskin, such as is frequently worn by dervishes and poor people in the East, and which seems, after Elijah's time, to have been in vogue among the prophets (Zech. xiii. 4). St. John's dress was of a similar rough description, and we see from Heb. xi. 37 (er, tolMerals, iv cdryciots olpfutatv) that such garments were regarded as a mark of poverty and persecution. The word addereth twice occurs with the epithet 10, or hairy,' Gen. xxv. 25 ; Zech. xiii. 4. On the other hand, it is sometimes undoubtedly applied to royal and splendid robes, and is even used to mean magnificence' in Ezek. xvii. 8 Nine of magnificence') and Zech. xi. 3. It is the expression for the 'goodly Babylonish gar ment' stolen by Achan, and the robe' worn by the king of Nineveh (Josh. vii. 21; Jonah iii. 6). The connection between two meanings apparently so opposite is doubtless to be found in the ety mology of the word (from MN, 'ampie'), or in the notion of a dress richly lined or trimmed with costly furs.
2. which in the A. V. is variously ren dered, mantle," robe," cloke f and in the LXX., Stetots, inroSons, voSiens, xtrcbv. phus calls it 'Ledo. It is a general term derived from 53)0, `to cover,' and is most frequently ap plied to the robe of the ephod' (Exod. xxviii. 4, and passim ; Lev. viii. 7), which is described as a splendid under-tunic of blue, wrought on the hem with pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, with golden bells between them. It came below the knees, being longer than the ephod, and shorter than the citoneth. It was a garment of unseamed cotton, open at the top so as to be drawn over the head, and having holes for the insertion of the arms (Joseph. Ant41. iii. 7. 4; Arch. Bibl., sec. 122, E. T. ; Braunius, de Vest. Sac., p. 436; Schroeder, a'• Vest. Mu1., p. 237, etc.) It was worn, however, not only by priests, like Samuel (i Sam. ii. ig ; xv. 27; xxviii. 14), but by kings and princes (Saul, 'Sam. xxiv. 4 ; David, I Chron. xv. 27), and rich men (Ezra, ix. 3-5 ; .7ob and his friends, i. 20 ; ii. 12), and even by king's daughters (2 Sam. xiii. IS), although in the latter case it seems to have had sleeves (see Gesen., Thes., p. Szz). Properly speaking, the ma was worn under the simian, or outer garment, but that it was often itself used as an outer garment seems probable from some of the passages above quoted.
The two other words rendered `mantle' in the A. V. are both of them ibraE Xeybaeva, viz. — 3' 4Pi1 (Judg. iv. 14), the garment (marg.
rug,' or 'blanket') used by Jael to fling over the weary Sisera as a coverlid (LXX. brepbXatoo, but oci3Als appears to have been the reading of Origen and Augustine). The word is derived from '(YID, imponere, and is evidently a general term. Hesy chins defines ircp6Xacop by 7ri;),,./a Adios, and Suidas by I' d rQ rpordpcp 4ripaXX6/.4evop. The word used in the Targum is rwa, which is only the Greek icaupdxn, and the Latin gaunacum ; and this word is explained by Varro to be majus sagum et amphimallon' (De Ling. Lat., iv. 35), i. e., a larger cloak woolly on both sides. Hesy chins differs from Varro in this, for he says IcatadKat orp4uara ?2-06Xata krepoixaXXil, i.e., woolly on one side ; the Scholiast on Aristophanes, adds that it was a Persian, and Pollux that it was a Baby lonian robe (Rosenmi.iller, Schol., ad loc.) There is therefore no reason to understand it of a curtain of the tent, as Faber does. Since the Orientals constantly used upper garments for bedding, the rendering mantle, though inaccurate, is not mis leading (cf. Ruth iii. 9 ; Ezek. xvi. 8, etc.) 4. nittzpg. This word only occurs in Is, ill.
22. It was some article of female dress, and is derived from InV texit.' Schroeder, the chief authority on this subject, says it means a large ex terior tunic with sleeves, worn next to the pallium (De Vest. Mul., xv. 247.277). In this same verse, and in Ruth iii. x5, occurs the word ninarnn, A. V. ztrinsfier,' which appears to have been a sort of square covering like a plaid (Michaelis, Supplem., 1021; Rosenmiiller, Schol. ; Is. iii. 22). We can not find the shadow of an authority for Jahn's very explicit statement, that both these words mean the same article, rwyyp being the fashion for the winter, and nrIppr; for the summer ; though his assertion that it covered the whole body from head to foot' may be very true (Jahn, Arch. Bibl., See. 127, E. T.) For other terms, such as 761±1 (Gen. ix. 23.
etc.), xAamis (Matt. xxvii. 28), aroXi (Mark xii. 38), see DRESS. The 06X6vns (A. V., cloke) to which St. Paul makes such an interesting allusion in 2 Tim, iv, 13 seems to have been the Latin pmnida (cf. a sort of travelling-cloak for wet weather. A great deal has been written about it, and at least one monograph, Stosch, Dissert. de Pallid Pauli, Lugd. 17oo. Even in Chrysostom's time some took it to be rd -yXcocrolacouov 1v0a ru #48Xia >O (a sort of travelling-bag), and Jerome, Theophylact, Grotius, etc., shared in this opinion (Schleusner, Lex. N. T., s. v. cpaeX6mg). —F. W. F.