mandilio

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Byzantine Greek μανδύλιον (mandúlion), μανδίλιον (mandílion), μαντίλιον (mantílion), or μανδήλη (mandḗlē, “cloth, hand towel, handkerchief, tablecloth”) (the last word dating to the 5th century), especially in the term τὸ ἄγιον μανδήλιον (tò ágion mandḗlion, “the holy towel”); from Latin mantēlium, a variation of mantēle or mantēlum (“hand towel, napkin”) (probably misconstructed as a singular form from the plural mantēlia).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /manˈdi.ljo/
• Rhymes: -iljo
• Hyphenation: man‧dì‧lio

Noun

mandilio m (plural mandili)

1. (chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) mandylion (relic consisting of a piece of cloth upon which an image of the face of Jesus Christ had been allegedly miraculously imprinted)

Further reading

• mandilio in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana