Camlet, also commonly known ascamlot,camblet, orchamlet, is a wovenfabric that might have originally been made ofcamel orgoat's hair, later chiefly of goat's hair andsilk, or ofwool andcotton.[1] The original form of this cloth was very valuable; the term later came to be applied to imitations of the original eastern fabric.[2]
In the 18th century,England,France,Holland, andFlanders were the chief places of its manufacture;Brussels exceeded them all in the beauty and quality of its camlets, followed by England.[3]
A variety of terms have been used for camlet in different forms:
Manufacturers of camlets had to take care not to introduce any unnecessary pleats in the fabric, as they were almost impossible to undo. This difficulty was so notorious, that a proverb existed, stating that someone "is like a camlet—he has taken his pleat."[3]
The origin of the term is uncertain. While certain authors reference camlets as originally being made of camel hair, others believe it is from the Arabicseil el kemel, theAngora goat.[2] According toChambers's Encyclopaedia, it comes from Arabicchamal, meaning fine.[7]
French scholarGilles Ménage determined that "camlet" was derived fromzambelot, aLevantine term for stuffs made with the fine hair of a Turkish goat, probably the Angora goat, from which comes the termTurkish camelot.Bochart claimedzambelot was a corruption from Arabic. Others called itcapellote, fromcapelle, she-goat. Still others have sourcedcamelot from the bare Latincamelus, so thatcamelot should properly signify a fabric made of camel hair.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Camelot, or Camlet".Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)