Tuniques à manches courtes et sans manches dans l’habit monastique égyptien (IVe - début VIIe siècle)

The tunic was one of the most important elements of monk’s vestment. A tunic could be long- or shortsleeved or without sleeves at all. It was worn in every occasion: for work as well as to participate in the liturgy or in others ceremonies, to go to refectory or to sleep. This article presents the shortsleeved and the sleeveless tunics worn by the monks. The iconographical representations of monks dressed with such tunics are less frequent that those of monks dressed with longsleeved tunics, however the writing sources bring a huge number of attestations of the custom of wearing shortsleeved and sleeveless tunics. It is then interesting to match these different witnesses and to compare them with the clothes found in archaeological excavations. It is necessary to study the fashion and the way of production of the tunics worn by the laity at this period and their vocabulary as well, to understand the origin of monastic clothes. This vocabulary, during the period from 4th to the begining of 7th century AD, is predominantly Greek: in this time, the Coptic language used to appropriate directly some Greek words. Three words: κολόβιον, λεβίτων, χιτών could signify the shortsleeved and/or the sleeveless tunics in the monastic literature. It is not always easy to determinate which of these designations was applied for which fashion of the tunic. Only λεβίτών seems to be unambiguous, and the words κολόβιον and χιτών are still more obscure. Contrary to κολόβιον and χιτών, which indicated the tunics worn by all, women and men as well, the λεβίτων could be considered as a word proper to monastic vocabulary.