SPANISH TEXTILE VOCABULARY

by Ann Pollard Rowe

November 2004

Introduction
The impetus for this project was the need to translate into Spanish a text that I had written in 1988 (Rowe ms). This
work was an introduction to Peruvian textiles and employed in its English version textile terminology derived from
Irene Emery's The Primary Structures of Fabrics (The Textile Museum 1966, 1980). I recently found out that the
encyclopedia for which my text was written was published in 2002, but I am not yet sure if my article is actually
included. This separate document came about because I had considered the subject of Spanish textile terms afresh,
based on Irene Emery's own approach, so I ventured to think that others might be interested both in the conclusions I
had reached and in the reasons for those conclusions. However, the publication for which it was originally prepared
was cancelled and I had not managed to finish it enough to place it elsewhere.
The reason I presumed that this work might be of interest to others is not that my Spanish is exceptionally
good; alas it is not, for which I am very apologetic (and I am likewise apologetic that this document is in English). It
is, rather, that I have a thorough knowledge of Irene Emery's system of classification and terminology, not only what it
is but the type of reasoning used to arrive at it. This knowledge was gained by working with her personally as well as
with her book. She completely rethought the classification and terminology for fabric structures in English. In order to
translate these terms, it was necessary to apply the same rigor to Spanish.
Needless to say, I would not have been able to accomplish as much as I have without the help of people whose
Spanish is better than mine. A key source of assistance on this project was my late father, John Howland Rowe, who,
after fifty years of working in Peru, was practically bilingual. However, I have also had the thoughtful help of Duccio
Bonavia, a Peruvian archaeologist who is a native speaker and who had previously given some thought to these matters.
However, there remain for the moment a few infelicities for which he is not to blame (chiefly twining and knitting).
At this point in time, I do not presume to suppose that the vocabulary presented here is definitive. Since I
originally drafted this document in 1988, naturally additional publications on textiles have appeared in Spanish, and my
own thinking on English terminology has also evolved. Because of the press of other work and the short lead time for
this meeting, I have not been able to completely update this document, but have only made those revisions that seemed
most obvious.
The Importance of Precise Terminology
Precise terminology for describing textile structures (the relationship of the yarns in a finished textile) and techniques
(the process of producing the textile) is an essential tool in the analysis and interpretation of textile evidence of any
kind, and native textiles of the Latin American countries are certainly no exception. Indeed, the tremendous variety of
structures found in such textiles requires a terminology that is exceptionally flexible and precise, and yet which is
beyond the scope of terms existing for the description of European textiles.
Description of textile structures is at its most useful for research when it is the most detailed and precise. For
instance, many Peruvian art styles after the Initial Period employ tapestry weave for their most significant textiles. Yet
it is the variations of the tapestry technique that permit one to differentiate the style of one from the style of another. If
one recognizes for instance that Inca tapestry is generally single interlocked and that Chimu tapestry is slit (with longer
slits sewn), then a piece with a Chimu design in interlocked tapestry can be recognized for the Inca influenced and
period of the Inca empire piece that it is (Rowe 1984, pl. 18, p. 120). Without such analysis one would assume from
the design of such a piece that it was Chimu only and one would be at a loss as to how to date it. Indeed it was just
such precise structural analysis that enabled me to differentiate Chimu and Chancay textiles, and to identify as Chimu
some textiles with Chancay provenience as well as some textiles lacking any recognizable iconography (Rowe 1984).
One cannot begin to do this kind of analysis unless there are terms adequate to describe the results which will
also be intelligible to others. This is a bigger bite to chew than the uninitiated might assume, since the terminology for
textiles is probably more extensive and also more confused than that for any other art form. Nevertheless, significant
strides have been made in bringing confusion under control in English. Much less attention has been given to this
matter in Spanish, however. In recent years, Rosa Fung (in Lima) has also been attempting to translate the concepts
proposed by Emery, but her full work has not yet been published.
Early History of Latin American Textile Description in Spanish
The earliest detailed descriptions of Andean textiles were in English and French, the most important and influential
scholars in this field being Lila O'Neale and Raoul d'Harcourt. Two of O'Neale's articles dealing with textiles from

Paracas were translated into Spanish for the Revista del Museo Nacional (O'Neale 1932 and 1935). The distinguished
Peruvian anthropologist Jorge Muelle was the translator of these articles, and not O'Neale herself (J.H. Rowe, personal
communication). Muelle seems to have taken a special interest in textile terminology, but I do not know how detailed
his knowledge was on this subject. He did tend to translate the terms as literally as possible. Harcourt's work has been
translated into English (edited by students of O'Neale) but not into Spanish. This means that O'Neale's and Muelle's
work has been the more influential. Moreover, although brief articles and picture books in Spanish have appeared
since, most have focused only on small groups of pieces with limited structural range.
The attempt by the people at the Museo de Amrica in Madrid, published in the 1970's to describe the
Peruvian textiles in their collection unfortunately does not advance the field (Ramos 1973, Ramos and Blasco 1976,
1980, the latter published in Peru). The terminology discussion by Portillo refers only to the work of O'Neale and
Harcourt, ignoring more recent work, and in the descriptions of the textiles themselves, everything is described as
either "tela" or "reps", without any further details. This is too drastic an oversimplification of the structures in question
to be useful.
O'Neale also influenced the description of Mesoamerican textiles in Spanish. Her major work on Guatemalan
textiles was translated into Spanish (1965) and her student Irmgard W. Johnson has written several works in Spanish
dealing with archaeological and ethnographic textiles in Mexico (see for instance Johnson 1959, 1977).
However, the people who have done the most important work on Peruvian textiles in English in recent years
no longer use O'Neale's terminology. O'Neale died in 1948, over 50 years ago, and a great deal of work has been done
since then worldwide on textile terminology. O'Neale's terminology was not systematic. She merely chose what
seemed to her the best terms for the subject at hand from those that were available. For structures for which no name
was established, she either tried to invent something, with varying degrees of success, or she used a vague general term
which could be used to describe several different things. Harcourt does the same in his chapter on "weaves with varied
construction." Their diagrams make it clear enough what they are talking about, but the terminology is not adequate to
the task.
Systems of Textile Classification
There have been several different attempts since O'Neale's day to establish textile terminology on a systematic basis.
Some sort of system is highly desirable for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it is desirable to be able to call the same
thing by the same name in whatever context it appears. This may seem obvious, but the number of different contexts in
which textile descriptions appear is large and frequently different terms may be used because each person works only in
one context. Thus, if a system is to be broadly applicable, it must be based not only on the textiles of one group,
however wonderful, but on textiles from all over the world. A system is also desirable in order to determine what term
should be used in preference to another.
One attempt to create a universal textile terminology was made by the Centre International d'Etude des
Textiles Anciens, an international organization of scholars based in Lyon, France. One of the main purposes of this
organization was to devise a terminology for each of the European languages that would be accepted by all the
members. A series of collaborative vocabularies was issued starting with a French one in 1957. A Spanish version was
issued in 1963.
However, because this organization was based in Lyon, the center of the silk weaving industry in France, and
because most of the members studied European and near Eastern silks primarily, the terms in these early vocabularies
consisted mainly of silk weaving terms, and there is very little in them that is applicable to indigenous American
textiles. Not only were many of the terms for such things as the different parts of the drawloom, and the different types
of silk, but many of the terms for textiles were based on fabric names for various kinds of fancy silks, and they do not
describe basic textile structures at all. These scholars were so fixated on silks that there were not even terms to
describe such European textiles as rugs and tapestries.
Since the beginning of this effort, however, some scholars did realize that some of these failings existed, and
further revisions have been made. An updated and greatly expanded English edition by Dorothy Burnham was
published by the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada in 1980. An updated French version has been worked on but is still
unpublished. The Burnham book contains Spanish equivalents for some of the terms, but there has been no more
recent Spanish version as yet. The 1980 English edition is certainly an improvement over the original, but still retains
some of the same failings. The chief problem with the CIETA approach is that it is merely a vocabulary, and is not
based on a classification system.
A classification system, in which basic structures are placed in logical relationships, is desirable as a basis for
terminology in order to arrive at terms in a logical manner and in order to have some means of coping with structures
that have never been previously described. A classification system should be hierarchical, like the classification system
used by scientists for plants and animals. It should have broad categories and subcategories, each logically named.

There were some early classifications that focused on European textile technology on the one hand, or
basketry on the other, which I will not go into here since they are not really applicable to indigenous American textiles.
The earliest attempt at a classification that is applicable to our subject was made by scholars in Basel,
Switzerland, that is, in the German language, by Alfred Bhler and his wife Kristin Bhler-Oppenheim. In this case,
Peruvian textiles were among the materials studied, as were other non-European fabrics. This work was originally
published in 1948. A revision of this classification was done by Bhler's student Annemarie Seiler-Baldinger,
published in 1973, with an English translation published in India in 1979. A second revised edition was published in
German in 1991, with an English translation published in Australia in 1994 and the U.S. in 1995 (see, however, my
review 1996a).
This classification purports to be based on technique rather than structure, that is, on the method used to
produce a structure, not on the finished structure itself. This is partly because Bhler was an anthropologist interested
in the different levels of technology attained by different non-European cultures. Nevertheless, considerable structural
description is present in this classification.
In English, the most important work on textile classification and terminology is that of Irene Emery, published
in 1966, and reprinted with minor changes in 1980. Emery called her book The Primary Structures of Fabrics. She
decided to focus on structures rather than techniques because a structure is always identifiable in a fabric, even if it is
an archaeologically excavated fragment whose technique may be unknown. She attempted to differentiate terms for
structure and technique to a greater extent than before, since often there are several techniques that can produce the
same structure (this is certainly true in Peruvian textiles) and at times several structures can be produced by the same
technique. Of course, technique and structure are intimately related and in a number of cases it is very difficult to
disentangle them, and Emery did not entirely succeed. In fact, the more I have thought about it the more I realized that
some techniques remain embedded in her classification.
This is not to say that it is not important to describe technique, because it certainly is. Obviously, a structure is
the result of a technique and it can be difficult to understand a structure without having tried the technique or at least
understood thoroughly how it is done. Also of course in ethnographic field work one is generally studying technique
rather than structure and the indigenous weaver may have a totally different way of conceptualizing what she or he is
doing than we would use. This is all important and interesting to record but it does not negate the value of having a
classification and method of describing structure alone. One still has to have a standardized vocabulary in order to
effectively share and compare the information. Ideally, if one knows or can deduce the technique, this can be stated
separately from the structure. The greatest confusion comes from trying to combine the two.
Emery was familiar with pre-Hispanic Peruvian textiles, and several examples are illustrated in her book.
However, she had not addressed some of the more complex structures, and, knowing that I would have to do this in my
research, I worked on extending her classification and principles to all the various weaves I encountered, which I
published in Warp-Patterned Weaves of the Andes in 1977. This is the vocabulary I was trying to translate in 1988.
Subsequently, Sophie Desrosiers has revisited the subject of classifying the structures found in pre-Hispanic Peruvian
textiles in her work on the Modena collection, published in Italian in 1992 (see also her 1977 article, in Spanish). This
work has some valuable observations, and Italian is obviously closer to Spanish than English is, but I have not
attempted to fully evaluate and incorporate it into this document, due to the short lead time.
Emery's Approach
To arrive at her classification Emery studied textiles and textile literature from all over the world, not only in English
but in several foreign languages as well. The purpose was to arrive at a classification that would apply to textiles from
all over the world and not solely one small group or another. Actually, she did not study in much detail the complex
weaves used in figured silk fabrics, although her approach to these structures differs radically from that of CIETA, and
her ideas have not had as ready acceptance among those who study such fabrics as among those who study the products
of simpler types of equipment, but in fact her principles are adaptable here too (see Rowe 1985).
The classification is organized according to the number of elements or sets of elements in a fabric and the type
of interaction that the yarns have to each other.
In addition she tried to select terms that were descriptive of the structures in question and that made sense
literally in English. This is not as easy as it sounds, since many traditional textile terms are jargon of one sort or
another and make no literal sense. Many of the terms in the CIETA vocabulary are fabric names borrowed from
industry. Often these terms not only imply a certain structure, but also a certain fiber, a certain spacing of the warps
and wefts, a certain finish, etc. The term tabby which is used by CIETA for balanced plain weave is one such fabric
name. It originally referred to a type of watered silk. The Spanish tafetn is a similar type of term. Another example
is O'Neale's use of the term kilim, which she borrowed from the literature of Oriental rugs. She used it for what Emery
calls slit tapestry weave, although in the Oriental rug literature it refers to any of a variety of non-pile structures. Thus

the term is not even correctly used by O'Neale. She also incorrectly used the French term torchn (1932) to describe
what Emery calls interlinking. Torchn is a French term designating a type of European bobbin lace, which is not in
fact interlinked, but a more complex combination of oblique twining and oblique interlacing (see Dillmont Fig. 1046 in
the English version, Fig. 978 in the Spanish version, or Emery fig. 84). It should not, therefore, be used for
interlinking.
The advantages of simple descriptive terms like plain weave and slit tapestry weave are many. For one thing,
they don't come loaded with other implications like silk, or more warp than weft yarns, or certain color combinations,
etc. Thus, they can be used for any textiles with the structure in question without implying something that might not be
there. Another advantage is that they are easier to learn and remember and make better sense to non-specialists. Yet
the most compelling advantage is that when such terms are used within a classification system, they can then be used to
describe structures that have never been given any special name as well as all the variations that may be found of a
structure that previously had only one general name. And there are quite a few such structures and variations among
Peruvian textiles. What one has therefore is not a system with one term for each structure but a system of description.
Yet another advantage is that it ought to be possible to translate them more easily from one language to another.
As valuable as Emery's classification is, people have not necessarily found it easy to use. The form in which it
is presented is very condensed, and more understandable to those who are familiar already with textiles and the textile
literature of the past. Also, it includes only the primary structures - and many variations found in actual textiles are not
directly dealt with. Thus, as noted, my Warp-Patterned Weaves of the Andes (1977) was an attempt to apply Emery's
system to the structures common in Andean textiles.
Translating Emery into Spanish
James Vreeland in his work at the Museo Nacional in Lima in the 1970's recognized the need to have a detailed
terminology in Spanish (see Vreeland 1974). Knowing how valuable Emery's work has been in English he wanted to
translate her terms; yet such a task is easier said than done. He turned for help again to Jorge Muelle, and eventually
they published a brief glossary of textile terms (Vreeland and Muelle 1976). Yet this list is not as useful as it might be.
It appears that certain difficult questions were avoided by omission. Moreover, the glossary is merely an alphabetized
list, that does not present Emery's actual classification (or any diagrams or definitions) and no examples are given as to
how to use it. Another attempt to translate Emery terms into Spanish that is deserving of mention is that of Diana
Rolandi de Perrot in Argentina (see for example Rolandi de Perrot 1973). She has not devised a glossary but simply
discusses the relevant terms in the context of the presentation of her own analysis of certain archaeological Argentine
textiles. Another Argentine, Isabel Iriarte (Corcuera and Iriarte 1987), has also made a useful attempt.
In trying to construct a list of terms similar to Vreeland's that could be used to translate my text (Rowe ms)
into Spanish, I realized that 1) some sort of a decision had to be reached on the more difficult terms since it was
necessary to translate the entire text and 2) some of Vreeland's and Muelle's translations were too literal - they were not
idiomatic Spanish. Emery was very careful with her English: everything makes grammatical sense and there are no
foreign terms. It would do her a disservice to translate her English too literally.
In order to translate her concepts as well as her classification, it is necessary to think about it much as she did
in English. The first step is to gather together all the different terms that have been used in Spanish for textiles and
determine which of these have enough commonly accepted meaning to be useful.
Besides the literature on Andean and Mesoamerican textiles, the CIETA vocabularies, and various Spanish
dictionaries, both those with English translations and those with Spanish definitions (including the Academy
dictionary), I also examined the available textile dictionaries and some how-to-do-it books. The textile dictionaries are
produced by people involved in industrial textile technology, and therefore they contain a minimum of terms applicable
to hand processes, especially those used in parts of the world with non-European cultures, but they nonetheless contain
some useful tidbits. There is a multilingual series of dictionaries of textile terms published by MIT in Cambridge,
Mass. that naturally includes one in Spanish, published in 1972. In addition, there is a dictionary in Spanish by F.
Castany-Saladrigas, Diccionario de Tejidos Perito qumico y de Industrias textiles, published in Barcelona in 1949 and
a Panamerican dictionary (Diccionario Textil Panamericano) by Joaqun Rodrguez Ontiveros, with English
equivalents, published in New York, also in 1949.
I have not been able to consult many how-to-do-it books in Spanish, but I imagine they exist for such
techniques as knitting, embroidery, sailors' knots, etc. The one I have been able to look at is the Spanish translation of
Trse de Dillmont's book originally written in French (Enciclopedia de Labores de Seora, n.d. but ca. 1900). This
was less useful than I had hoped it would be, since it seems to use quite a few Gallicisms. In general however, how-todo-it books are not an ideal source; in English, many are quite idiosyncratic and unreliable when it comes to
terminology. They naturally emphasize technique rather than structure, they tend to use jargon rather than descriptive

terms, and often they contradict each other. Yet, one must know the common usages and one can make use of the more
established ones.
The next step is to gather the possible alternatives in Spanish for the terms that have never been satisfactorily
translated before, and determining which of these makes the most sense. In addition to the perils offered by textile
terminology in general, there are difficulties presented by the fact that words may have different usages in different
Spanish-speaking countries. Of course it is necessary to take these into consideration as well.
The terms that are the most difficult to translate into Spanish are not necessarily those for which Emery had to
be the most inventive in English but simply those for which there is no consistent tradition in Spanish. This includes
some rather common structures such as tapestry joins and common techniques such as knitting.
Although Emery tried to use terms that were already existing as much as possible, there were many cases in
which no good English term was in current use and she had to invent something. Although these new terms seemed
strange to people in the beginning, many have now come into common use in English since they are so logical. In this
attempt to translate such terms into Spanish, some correspondingly new expressions have been used, but they are meant
to reflect Emery's intent as closely as possible. Since her terms are descriptive, they do lend themselves to literal
translation. She also defined certain structural terms in a more precise way than had previously been done and this has
also been necessary in translation.

NOTES ON SPANISH TEXTILE VOCABULARY

1. Terms for Yarn Description and Yarn Making

PLY/END (noun)
Vreeland and Muelle give cabo libre for free end (in certain one set of element techniques). They give no noun for ply.
MIT and Panamerican also translate cabo as end. Panamerican also gives strand and thread as translations of cabo. For
the noun ply, Panamerican gives capa and doblez. However, these terms refer to cloth, not thread. Appletons Cuyas
under ply translates "2-ply" as, "de 2 capas, l minas, hilos, etc." Panamerican translates "ply yarn": "hilo doblado, hilo
de dos o ms cabos". Castany Saladrigas: "con los hilos torcidos a dos cabos." The Museo Ixchel book on
Colotenango uses cabo for ply.
Rolandi also has dos cabos for two-ply. Yacovleff and Muelle (1934) give doble pabilo for two-ply, but in
Vreeland and Muelle pabilo is defined as roving (in Appletons Cuyas dictionary it is wick of a candle). I.W. Johnson
also uses cabo for ply. Cabo is also in common use for ply in the context of describing commercially available knitting
yarns, according to Laura Miller (pc).
Thus, it appears that cabo can be used for both ply and end. I would prefer not to, and since end is the more
established meaning of cabo, it seems necessary to use a circumlocution for ply. (Or, can one use ramal, which is in the
dictionary as referring to a strand of rope? Another possibility is hebra.)
PLY (verb)
Although spin is easily translated using hilar, and twist by torcer, there is not an ideal equivalent for ply. The English
word double or its Spanish cognate doblar is sometimes used for ply (Junius Bird being the chief culprit) but there are
two problems with this: 1) that one might want to combine more than two plies, and 2) that sometimes one does wind
two threads together without twisting them, either in preparation for plying or in preparation for weaving, and the word
double (or doblar) much more accurately describes this motion. It might even be better to reserve to double for
folding a length of rope in half in order to ply it. It therefore seems advisable to use retorcer for to ply, as
recommended by CIETA. However, the next question is how would you translate re-ply?
SPINDLE/DISTAFF
The term rueca can be found used for both spindle and distaff. However, it is more properly used for distaff, while
there is another word, huso, for spindle. There is no confusion for example in the Univ. of Chicago dictionary. There
are related words in other Romance languages with the same meaning (cf. Burnham 1980, pp. 37, 129). It is important
to have two different words for these two quite different items.
SPINDLE WHORL
Tortera seems closest to the English whorl. Volante, meaning flywheel, is possibly more correct, but is this term
needed to describe the operation of the flyer spinning wheel?
SINGLE
Vreeland and Muelle give single, but this does not seem to be a common Spanish word. It is not in smaller
dictionaries. Appleton's Cuyas says it is nautical, but I don't know what the nautical meaning in English is. A common
word like sencillo seems better, to use for an unplied yarn. To refer to a single element, I had also used sencillo in the
1988 manuscript, but Rosa Fungs suggestion of elemento nico (in her 1990 draft) now seems better to both Bonavia
and me.

2. WEAVE and INTERLACING

WEAVE
The verb most often used to translate the English weave is tejer/tejido. In Emery, the word is used only for structures
that have been loom woven, although this is really a technique and not a structure (the structure is interlacing). This
technique is, however, so important worldwide that a specific term is certainly needed to describe it.
However, in both English and Spanish the word is also popularly used more loosely, for the general process of
interworking linear elements, as for example in the expression "basket weaving." In Spanish, this kind of general usage
is broader even than it is in English, so that tejer is used of such techniques as knitting, etc. In her article from 2002,

Fung is emphatic on this difference from English and uses the term for all interworking of yarns (and Bonavia confirms
this). However, she does not make a suggestion about how to describe weaving, which does seem important to be able
to do; presumably one must say tejer con telar or some such. Desrosiers in her 1997 article also refrains from using
tejer for weaving, despite the fact that what she discusses in the article is chiefly weaving. In discussing various
weaves, she uses the term estructura, which is obviously just as vague as tejido, as well as estructura recta, which is at
least slightly more specific but still does not necessarily imply a loom was used or anything much more specific about
the structure. The only more specific term she uses is tela, which does have the advantage of being related to telar, so
maybe something could be done with this.
For the document I was working on in 1988, I used tejer only for loom weaving, and tried to come up with
alternate terms for non-loom techniques. See the further discussion under section 6 (Knitting). I have not changed this
for the present purpose, but can note that using the term weave in English does imply a technique (despite Emerys
stated focus on structure), and not really a structure. The structure in this case would be more accurately described as
interlacing. To use tejido is thus not necessarily wrong, as long as one does not necessarily need to imply the use of a
loom.
In German (e.g. the Basel classification) bindung is used to refer to what Emery calls an interlacing order or
weave. This is sometimes translated into English as binding (although the most recent translation of SeilerBaldingers book uses weave) and into Spanish as ligamento. The idea is that the interlacing of warp and weft
binds the floats. Since this is not Emery terminology, I have not used it.
INTERLACING
The English term interlacing is well understood, but Emery made more extensive use of it than had been normal in
earlier works on textiles. In her classification, this term is essential, since it describes a structure only, without
implying any particular technique. This structure is very simple and also very common. In Spanish, the cognate word
is entrelazado, and this seems unquestionably to be the best word to use to translate interlacing. It is so used by many
recent Spanish-speaking authors who are translating Emery directly, such as Vreeland and Muelle (Peru), Ulloa (Chile),
Alvarez and Williams translating Gardner (Ecuador), Corcuera and Rolandi (Argentina). The Panamerican Dictionary
also gives this translation.
However, historically the word has a more general meaning in Spanish, as noted in Castany Saladrigas, and
used by less rigorous authors such as Mastache (pp. 46-47) and Gisbert (pp. 39, 43). Because of this, a number of
earlier authors used the word to refer to twining, for example Fung, Bonavia, and Rolandi in earlier work (Tastil), or to
interlocked, for example Johnson. In Spanish there are no clear and established terms for either twining or interlocking
(q.v.). It seems better, therefore, to confine the use of entrelazar to interlacing, and to find other words to use for
twining and interlocking.
In Fung 2001 and Desrosiers 1997, the term entrecruzado or entrecruzamiento (literally, intercrossing) is used
for interlacing. Fung now wants to use entrelazado for interlinking, since she uses enlazado for linking (see below for
further comment). However, I still prefer entrelazado for interlacing.

3. LINKING and INTERLINKING

Eslabonar was obtained from a regular Spanish-English dictionary. I used Appleton's Cuyas and Chicago. It refers to
linking as in a chain, which seems OK. A similar word is encadenar.
Vreeland and Muelle use enganchar, which means "to hitch, hook; to ensnare, to draft". Bonavia notes:
Enganchar no est bien, corresponde a to clasp, hook, es decir es agarrar una cosa con un gancho (hook). A similar
word, suggested by I.W. Johnson, is engarzar. She uses it for looping, but the dictionary definition is to link, join,
hook. The Academy dictionary says that metal threads are used, which is not the case. It refers to setting a stone (as in
jewelry) or baiting a hook (in fishing). For enlazado, see looping.
Linking is structurally identical to interlinking. Only the technique is different, so the terms imply not just
structure but also technique: using a single element versus a set of elements is derived from the Basel classification and
is in fact technique, not structure. It is problematic that Emery has two different terms for this structure, and the
English terminology needs to be retought. Translating interlinking as juego de elementos eslabonados solves this
problem nicely.
Interlinking is often produced by the technique of sprang in which a stretched set of elements fixed at both
ends is manipulated at one end, causing a mirror-imaged interworking at the opposite end. Sprang is a Swedish term
that was popularized in English by Peter Collingwood (1974) for this technique, inasmuch as it is uncommon in
English-speaking countries and thus there is no obvious English term for it. In Sweden the structure most frequently
produced by this technique is interlinking, but oblique interlacing and oblique twining can also be made with it. Note

that we have here separate terms for the technique (sprang) and the structure (interlinking, oblique interlacing, or
oblique twining). This is desirable, given that there are also other techniques that produce these same structures. The
term sprang (for the technique, not the structures) could presumably be taken into Spanish the same way it has into
English, although it goes against Emerys principles to use foreign terms for anything.

4. LOOPING
Vreeland and Muelle give anillar and anillo, and anillado is also used by other authors. The regular dictionary
meaning, however, is ring rather than loop. CIETA also gives anillado por trama for weft loop pile.
Vreeland and Muelle also mention the noun bucle; however, this is a gallicism not well established in Spanish
and has no verb form. Bonavia notes: Bucle quiere decir rizo de cabello en forma elicoidal. No me parece correcto.
Another possibility is rizar and rizo. Castany-Saladrigas uses rizo for terry toweling (weft loop pile); CIETA
gives terciopelo rizado for uncut velvet (warp loop pile), an inconsistency with the above. The regular dictionary
meaning seems to be curl (see Bonavia comment above).
The trouble with lazo is that it also means "bow, slipknot, and lasso". Bonavia: Lazo es una atadura en la que
se dejan los dos cabos sueltos. Likewise lazar - to capture with a lasso. Enlazar is defined in a regular dictionary as "to
join, bind, tie". However, it has been used for looping by Rolandi and Ulloa, for twining by I.W. Johnson, and for
linking in Fungs more recent work. In her lace article, Fung may have meant to use it for looping, though this is in
connection with loom-made square mesh, which is made with weft wrapping. In the Arica manuscript she uses it for
linking and for interworking. CIETA uses enlace de tramas for interlocking.
Anillar and anillo thus seem to be the clearest, and seem satisfactory for closed loops, though less so for open
loops such as warp loops at the ends of a fabric or the loops in loop-manipulation braiding. With respect to the latter, I
have not found anything satisfactory. I note that the word used to translate bight in Cyrus Days knot book is seno, but
I suppose this would not work either.

5. Terms for Knots

Castany-Saladrigas: nudo simple - half hitch
nudo doble - square knot
Enciclopedia Espasa: nudo llano - overhand knot
nudo doble - figure-8 knot
nudo de envergue - reef knot (=square knot)
o rizo (see notes on looping)
Appleton's Cuyas: nudo llano - square knot
cote (nudo) - half hitch (sailor's term)
Dillmont: nudo plano - square knot (probably a literal translation of the French noeud plat).
Rolandi: nudo vaquero - cow hitch
medio nudo - half hitch
"nudo cuadrado" square knot (also nudo marinero)
nudo deslizables - slip knot
Vreeland and Muelle - nudo cuadrado - square knot (probably a literal translation of the English square knot)
Fung: cow-hitch - nudo de vaquero o nudo de cabeza de alondra
I.W. Johnson: medio nudo o nudo sencillo - overhand knot
nudo de vuelta de cabo - half hitch
doble nudo de vuelta de cabo - 2 half hitches (clove hitch)
nudo corredizo - slip knot (also in Chicago dictionary)
nudo de presilla de alondra - lark's head knot
nudo de envergue o nudo recto, nudo llano de envergue - square knot
Argentine translation of Cyrus Day's Knots and Splices:
half hitch - medio cote
overhand knot - medionudo
square knot - nudo llano o de rizar
cow hitch - nudo de vaquero

It is very difficult to know what to do with all this. I settled on simple descriptive terms. Since the half hitch is so
simple and basic, I went along with Castany-Saladrigas in calling it nudo simple. Since the cow hitch is made up of
two symmetrical half hitches, I suggest nudo doble simtrico. This seems preferable to literal equivalents of the
English terms cow hitch and lark's head knot, both of which are silly. This is not as far from Castany-Saladrigas as it
might seem, since the order of interlacing of a cow hitch and square knot is identical; only the set is different. The
English term square knot is less silly and translating it literally seems preferable to the other alternatives.

6. KNITTING
Dillmont uses el punto de media, but media means stockings, and obviously many other kinds of things are produced
by this technique. Enciclopedia Espasa gives labor de aguja; la media; tejido de punto o de calceta. But calceta means
hose (same problem as media) and "needlework" could mean one of several other techniques. The Panamerican
dictionary gives tejer punto de malla. Malla means mesh and can be used for other techniques; since tejer also means
weave, its use for knitting is extremely problematic. Vreeland and Muelle give hacer tejidos de punto; so is looping.
Rolandi uses tejido con agujas, which could also be interpreted as darning. Gisbert uses tejer a palillo, which could
also refer to a backstrap loom. It is apparent from all this that 1) that there is no general agreement on a Spanish term
for this technique, and 2) none of these terms is at all satisfactory.
Castany-Saladrigas gives tricotar, as well as the noun, tricot. These terms are derived from the French, but
have the advantage of being specific to the knitting technique; the author uses them for both hand and machine knitting.
Diccionario de la Real Academia also gives tricotar (horray!): tejer, hacer punto a mano o con mquina. Although
tricotar tends to be used more often for machine knitting (cf. also the MIT vocabulary) than for hand knitting, it is clear
from Castany-Saladrigas and the Academy dictionary that it can also be used for hand knitting. Although tejer is in
more common use, and the word does have a broader meaning than the word weave in English, there has to be some
way to differentiate weaving and knitting in Spanish. The other suggestions about how to accomplish this all have
further problems. Therefore, the less common tricotar seems to be the best term.
CROSS-KNIT LOOPING
If one uses tricotar for knitting, this Emery term can be translated as anillado tricotado cruzado.
I confess, however, that I am no longer satisfied with Emerys term. The technique is looping, and not
knitting, although the same structure can be produced with the technique of knitting, in which case Emery calls it
crossed knitting (tricotado cruzado). Trying to find a term that does not reference knitting, some have suggested
crossed looping (anillado cruzado). But this will not work, since all looping has crossed loops. A better possibility
might be something like looping around the cross. Bonavia tentatively suggests translating this as anillado alrededor
de los cruces. (Ideally, however, there should be a completely neutral term for the structure that does not reference
either technique.)

7. Terms for Loom Parts

HEDDLE
Most sources give lizo (Vreeland and Muelle; Fung; Rolandi; also authors dealing with Mesoamerican weaving). This
naturally refers to simple looms with heddle rod and shed rod. CIETA translates it as malla, referring to treadle looms.
They call the heddle bar (on a treadle loom) varilla para lizos. By lizo they mean shaft: what American handweavers
call the harness on a treadle loom, the framework for the heddles. The trouble with malla is that it is often used to refer
to mesh in general. On the other hand, I am not sure what else to call a shaft/ harness in Spanish.
TREADLE
CIETA uses crcola. The Panamerican dictionary uses pedal (general); crcola, calca, pedal (loom) and for treadle
loom gives telar a pedal, which does seem to be the usual term in Latin America. Crcola is in the Academy
dictionary. Appletons Cuyas translates it as treadle of a loom so apparently it is a technical term referring only to
looms. It does not seem to be in common use.

10

8. Terms for Tapestry Joins

SLIT
Vreeland and Muelle give a ojales o ranuras. Since ojal is buttonhole, this is not a good term here. Ranura is defined
in the Chicago dictionary as groove or slot, which is much better. Rolandi has hendido. The Academy definition of
hender is "abrir o rajar un cuerpo slido sin dividerlo del todo." The most usual English translation is split. There are
also nouns, raja, rendija, and hendedura, apparently similar in meaning. Although hendido is appealing as being a verb
form like the following, Duccio Bonavia felt that ranura was closer to the English meaning of slit. Cardale 1978 uses
con ranuras. Fungs Arica manuscript gives ranurado, although this word is not normally a verb, and two authors in the
Lavalle volume also use it (Manrique; Castillo and Ugaz). If Spanish-speakers are not bothered by ranurado, I dont
mind using it instead of con ranuras.
DOVETAILED
Vreeland and Muelle give de cola de milano which seems to be a literal translation and like the English to be from
carpentry. However, being four words instead of one, it seems cumbersome. Rolandi has denticulado, which seems
simpler and no more farfetched. The join is more like teeth than a bird's tail. The CIETA term for single dovetailing
(vs. Emery) is toothed. Fung in the Arica manuscript uses dentado. But these terms describe only the visual effect, not
the actual structure.
Searching the dictionary for something more literally correct, we find empalmar, which Cassell's translates as
"scarf, dovetail, couple, join, splice". This seems best, though it is also a common word for splice. Normally it is
better not to use the same word for two different things, but perhaps the context is sufficiently different in this case and
there is an analogy in the two things. Alternatively, one could use ayustar for splice. Another possibility for
dovetailed, recently suggested by Bonavia, is ensamblado.
INTERLOCKED
Vreeland and Muelle give entrabado. This word is not in Appleton's Cuyas. A bigger dictionary gives it as a
provincial Colombianism for "hinder, obstruct". Bonavia notes that it is a synonym for trabar in Colombia and
Andalusia. Trabar means "to join, fasten; to shackle; to brace; to impede" (Ap-C). The first translation of interlock in
Ap-C is trabar. Fung in the Arica manuscript uses trabado. Entretrabado has been used for the interlocking pottery
style in Peru. This word is not in the Academy dictionary but is a possible compound word. Bonavia consulted Luis
Jaime Cisneros, a linguist, who said entretrabado was an unnecessary redundancy. Cisneros recommends entrabado for
interlocked.
Castany-Saladrigas describes (but does not name) the single interlocked join: "las tramas son ligadas por el
cruzamiento mutuo entre dos hilos de urdimbre que las separan en sentido vertical."
CIETA gives enlace de tramas for weft interlocking. App-Cuyas translates enlace as, "connection;
interlocking; link." Enlazar also means join; Appletons Cuyas gives interlock as a translation of the reflexive form.
MIT gives enlace for bonding, an industrial term. See also comments on looping.
There is no exact Spanish word for this concept, but trabar seems to be the closest; if Cisneros thinks
entrabado to be the preferred version of the word for us, I defer to him.

9. Terms and Language for Describing Complex Weaves

FLOAT
Spanish has a verb, flotar, and an adjective, flotante, but there is unfortunately no noun with this root. Vreeland and
Muelle avoid noun constructions. The only available noun seems to be basta, which is the word given by CIETA.
Appleton's Cuyas defines basta as "coarse stitch, basting" which makes it seem not appropriate to translate float
(Bonavia agrees). Therefore, I have also used circumlocutions that avoid the noun, for which see the figure captions
below.
SPAN
Vreeland and Muelle give longitud del hilo flotante for float span but this is not usable for translating "3-span floats in
alternate alignment". Since there seemed to be no single Spanish word that could be used exactly parallel to the
English, I used circumlocutions, which are given in the figure captions.

11

SET
The word grupo is not recommended; Emery did not use the English cognate (group), because it does not suggest as
strongly as set a collection of like objects. A group can be either like or unlike. Appletons Cuyas translates conjunto
as whole, aggregate, entirety as well as sports team or music group, which does not seem quite right. I settled on
juego because this is the term used for matched sets of towels, dishes, etc., which is the meaning Emery is getting at in
English. It is also used in Fungs most recent article and by Desrosiers.

10. TWINING
There is no word in Spanish that corresponds to the English term, and many Spanish language authors use the English
term in order to make sure that they are understood. So anything proposed is going to be problematic to begin with,
and will only become understandable when it is consistently used by various authors, as with any new technical term.
Vreeland and Muelle use encordado. This is similar to the term the French are now using (so Desrosiers 1997
also uses encordado), but its first translation in Appletons Cuyas is "to string (a musical instrument)" and second "to
lash or bind with ropes".
I.W. Johnson uses enlazado, for which see comments on looping.
Rolandi (in the Tastil report), Bonavia, and Fung (prior to her 2002 article) use entrelazado, which presents
difficulties since it is the best word to translate interlacing (see above).
In a more recent report (1981) Rolandi uses torcido de trama, and Ulloa 1981 uses trama torcida, which is
better but torcido is too general a word. In Fungs 2002 article she proposes entretorcido for twining.
By 1985 Ulloa was using tcnica de amarra. Appletons Cuyas defines amarrar as "to tie fasten; to lash, belay
and amarra as cable, rope, martingale". Usually it means to tie and is often used to describe tie-dyeing for example.
Prez de Micou (Argentine) uses adordelado but this term means to measure with a cord or to mark a straight
line with a cord, which seems even less apt than encordado.
Appletons Cuyas translates the verb twine as (re)torcer [not usable here because it means ply]; enroscar,
acordonar. Enroscar is defined by App-Cuyas: "to twine, twist". Acordonar is translated as "to lace; to mill (a coin); to
cord, shirr, twine; to surround (with a cordon of troops, etc.)." Would enroscar or acordonar be better than encordar? If
enroscar means to screw in, then that would not work.
For the Collingwood term intertwining, one possibility is perhaps entrecordado, but in 1988 I thought it clearer
to translate it as encordado en ambas diagonales. This is more descriptive and less jargon.
In the structures represented by the Harcourt diagrams with captions given as Figs. 31 and 32 below, it was
discovered about the same time by several scholars that the warp yarns are actually full-turn gauze rather than parallel.
The first publication was by Miyako Suzuki in 1989; correct diagrams were subsequently published by Desrosiers
(1992, tav. 27) and by me (Rowe 1996b, Fig. 117, the work for which was done in the early 1990s). Since the
Harcourt diagrams are incorrect, I have not corrected the captions here, but for a correct diagram one would have to add
encordado de torsin completa.

11. Terms for Embroidery Stitches

STITCH
Vreeland and Muelle use puntada, as do Carrin Cachot, Yacovleff and Muelle, Fung, and I.W. Johnson. Other
sources (Dillmont, Panamerican, MIT, Castany-Saladrigas, Museo Ixchel, Ulloa, and Rolandi) use punto.
App-Cuyas translates puntada as "(sewing) stitch," while punto is translated as "point, nib, sharp end; end,
tip," etc. But the Academy lists stitch as the fifth definition of punto and its definition of puntada seems to indicate the
hole in the cloth made by the needle before passing the thread. Bonavia therefore suggests punto.
STEM STITCH
Punto de tallo (Dillmont) appears to be a literal translation of the French/English. I did not find this term elsewhere
except in Rolandi where it is not defined.
Carrin Cachot and Yacovleff and Muelle use puntada atrs, meaning back stitch. In English, back stitch
refers to the back face of the stem stitch. Panamerican and others give punto atrs as "back stitch." Panamerican lists a
punto de cordoncillo as "cord stitch, rope stitch, crewel stitch". "Crewel stitch" can refer to stem stitch, and punto de

12

cordoncillo is a better description than stem stitch. Mary Thomas describes something different under cord stitch and
rope stitch. Panamerican has no diagrams.
RUNNING STITCH
Vreeland and Muelle give puntada hilvanda. This literally means "basting stitch"; Panamerican gives punto de hilvan
for "basting stitch". Since we are embroidering, not basting, this does not seem ideal. Especially since this is actually
double running stitch.
Rolandi gives punto corrido doble, probably a literal translation of the English, but better than basting.
Nobody else lists it. De corrido (or de corrida) means "without stopping", and this idiom translates the English
meaning more exactly than corrido alone. But when I proposed punto de corrido to Rosario de Lavalle (Peru), she did
not think of that idiom and suggested that punto corrido would be more analogous to other stitch names.
WHIPPING STITCH
This stitch is used both for seams and edge finishes. Overcasting is another English term, more appropriate for edge
finishes than seams. Vreeland and Muelle and Fung give puntada de surjete. Surjete is not in Appleton's Cuyas: it is a
Gallicism for encima. Yacovleff and Muelle give puntada por encima o surjete. Punto por encima is listed as an
example in the Academy dictionary under punto, though it is not defined there. Rolandi gives punto sobrehilado and
Panamerican gives punto de sobrehilar. Sobrehilar is translated as "overcast" in Appleton's Cuyas. To whip (in
sewing) is translated as sobrecoser in Appleton's Cuyas. Punto sobrecocido makes good literal sense, but punto por
encima seems better established.

12. Terms for Resist Dyeing (teido en reserva)

TIE-DYE
This has usually been literally translated as atado (o amarrado) y teido. It appears that atado and amarrado are
synonyms. Brugnoli and Hoces de la Guardia (1999, Chile) use reserva por amarras. However, Appletons Cuyas
translates amarra as a cable or rope, rather than a binding or tie, so this does not seem ideal.
The traditional English term tie-dye (or tie and dye) is not to me very satisfactory, however, because the
technique usually involves tight wrapping, and the yarn is tied only to secure the wrapping. Therefore I now prefer to
say bound cloth resist. This could be translated as tela liada en reserva. Including cloth distinguishes the
technique from bound yarn resist (for which see below). The dyeing is a separate process from the binding, and if you
say resist, then dyeing is implied and does not need to be specifically stated.
IKAT
This is an Indonesian term that has come into general use in English. It has been used in the same way in Spanish.
Although the term usually refers to bound yarn resist, there are in fact changing-color yarns dyed with other techniques,
so it is clearer to be more specific and I now prefer the term bound yarn resist (assuming that this is what is meant),
which can be specified as bound warp or weft resist. This could therefore be translated as urdimbre (o trama) liada en
reserva.

13

ENGLISH-SPANISH TEXTILE VOCABULARY

accessory fabrics - tejidos accesorios
accessory stitches - puntos accesorios
agglomerated fibers - fibras aglomeradas
alternate (verb) - alternar
alternate pairs - pares alternos
alternating alignment - alinamiento alterno
alternating float weave - tejido de hilos flotantes alternos
appliqu - aplicado
backstrap loom - telar de cintura
balanced - balanceado
beaten bark cloth - gnero de corteza machacada
braiding - trenzado
brocaded - brocado
cloth - tela
coiled - enrollado
compacted - comprimido
complementary - complementario
complementary-warp or -weft weave - tejido de juegos complementarios de urdimbre o trama
compound - compuesto
compound weave - tejido compuesto
cordage - cordaje
countered - contrario
cow hitch - nudo doble simtrico
crochet - ganchillo
crossed - cruzado
crossed knitting - tricotado cruzado
cross-knit looping - anillado tricotado cruzado (o anillado alrededor de los cruces)
cross-knit loop stitch - punto anillado tricotado cruzado
darn - zurcir
discontinuous - discontnuo
distaff - rueca
diverted - desviado
double-faced - de doble cara
double cloth - tela doble
dovetailed (tapestry weave) - empalmado
dye (verb) - teir
dye (noun) - tinte
element - elemento
embroidered, embroidery - bordado
fabric - gnero
face (one/opposite) - cara
felt - fieltro; felted - fieltrado
fiber - fibra
figure-8 looping - anillado en forma de ocho
figure-8 stitching - punto en forma de ocho

14

float (verb) flotar

n.b. Since there is no good noun in Spanish, it is necessary to use a circumlocution to translate the English
noun: e.g. float span - longitud del hilo flotante
foundation - base
full (verb) - enfurtir
full-turn twining - encordado de torsin completa
gauze weave - tejido de gasa
ground fabric - tejido de fondo
half hitch - nudo simple
heading cord cuerda de extremidad
heddles - lizos
heddle loom technology - tecnologa del telar con lizos
heddle rod - vara del lizo
herringbone (twill) - (sarga) espinapez
identical idntico
ikat ikat o urdimbre (o trama) liada en reserva
interacting elements - elementos interactuantes
interchange - intercambiar
inter-knotting - juego de elementos anudados
interlace - entrelazar
interlacing order - orden de entrelazado
interlinking - juego de elementos eslabonados
interlocked (tapestry weave) - entrabado
interlooping - anillado por anillos
interworked - manipulado en conjunto
knit - tricotar
knot (verb) - anudar
knot (noun) - nudo
knotted looping - anillado anudado
lazy line - lnea diagonal de hilos de trama discontinuos del mismo color
linking - eslabonado (por nico elemento)
link and twist - eslabonar y torcer
loom - telar
loom bar - barra de telar
loom panel - pao
loom width - ancho del telar
looping - anillado
loop and twist - anillar y torcer
loop pile: see weft loop pile
macram - macram (no translation)
mesh - malla
mordant - mordiente
oblique - oblcuo
oblique interlacing - entrelazado oblcuo
oblique intertwining - encordado en ambas diagonales
oblique twining - encordado oblcuo
openwork - calado
paired - apareado

15

pile - pelo
plain weave - tejido llano (o plano)
plain-weave-derived float weave - tejido flotante derivado de
tejido llano
ply (verb) - retorcer
S-plied - retorcido en S
2-ply - retorcido de dos (elementos)
predominant - predominante
quilted - acolchado
reciprocal - recproco
resist-dyed - teido en reserva
running stitch - punto corrido
satin stitch - punto llano
satin weave - tejido raso
scaffold weft - hilo de trama clave
seam - costura
selvedge - orillo
set (of elements) - juego
sew - coser
sewing - costura
shed - calada
shed rod - vara de la calada
shot (of weft) - pasada
shuttle - lanzadera
simple weave - tejido simple
simple looping - anillado simple
single element - elemento nico
2 single elements - 2 elementos nicos
slit tapestry weave - tejido tapiz con ranuras (o ranurado)
spaced - espaciado
span - cannot be literally translated, see 'float'
spin (verb) - hilar
S-spun - hilado en S
spindle - huso
splice - empalmar o ayustar
square knot - nudo cuadrado
stem stitch - punto de cordoncillo
stitch - punto
strand - hilo, elemento
braided with 3 strands - trenzado de 3 elementos
structure - estructura
substitution - sustitucin
with warp or weft substitution - con sustitucin de urdimbre o trama
supplementary - suplementario
sword (batten) - espada
tapestry weave - tejido tapiz
textile - textil
tie-dyed - atado y teido (o tela liada en reserva)
transposed - transpuesto
treadle loom - telar a pedal
twill weave - tejido sarga
twining - encordado

16

twist (verb) - torcer

twist (noun) - torsin
two-faced - de dos caras
unplied yarns - hilos sin retorcer (no retorcidos)
warp (verb) - urdir
warp (noun) - urdimbre
warp-faced - de cara de urdimbre
warp-predominant - de urdimbre predominante
warp loops (at the ends of a cloth) - anillos de la urdimbre
warp twining - encordado de urdimbre
weave (verb) - tejer
weave (noun) - tejido
weft - trama
weft-faced - de cara de trama
weft-predominant - de trama predominante
weft loop pile - con pelo formado de anillos de trama
weft twining - encordado de trama
whipping stitch - punto por encima (o sobrecosido)
whorl - tortera
wrap - envolver
wrapping wefts - tramas envolventes
yarn - hilo

17

REFERENCES CITED
Alvarez, Sylvia G.
1987
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18

1992a

Las tcnicas de tejido: tienen un sentido? Revista Andina, ao 10, nm. 1, pp. 7-34. Centro "Bartolom de
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1992b

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Dillmont, Thrse de
n.d.
Enciplopedia de labores de seora. Editions Th. de Dillmont (Biblioteca D.M.C.), Mulhouse (France), ca.
1900.
n.d.

Encyclopedia of Needlework. Editions Th. De Dillmont (D.M.C. Library), Mulhouse (France).

Emery, Irene
1966
The Primary Structures of Fabrics: an Illustrated Classification. The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C.
Reprinted with minor revisions 1980.
Enciclopedia Espasa
Fung Pineda, Rosa
1959
Pequeo glosario textil. Cuadernos del Centro de Estudiantes de Antropologa, Universidad Nacional Mayor
de San Marcos, vol. 1, nos. 2-3, Dec. 1958-Jan. 1959, pp. 24-27.
1974

Analisis tecnologico de encajes del antiguo Peru: Periodo tardio. Cuadernos Culturales de la Industria Textil
Peruana No. 1, Asociacin Peruana de Tcnicos Textiles, Lima.

2002

Clasificacin y terminologa en espaol de tejidos precolombinos, Actas, II Jornadas internacionales sobre

textiles precolombinos, edited by Victria Solanilla Demestre, pp. 391-399. Departament dArt, Universitat
Autnoma de Barcelona, Institut Catal de Cooperaci Iberoamericana, Barcelona.

ms

Documento de Trabajo: Terminologas Textiles. Encuentro Regional de Expertos sobre Conservacin de

Textiles Precolombinos, Arica, Chile, 3-7 Septiembre 1990. The Getty Conservation Institute, Universidad de
Tarapaca, Arica, and Proyecto Regional de Patrimonio Cultural Desarollo PNUD/UNESCO. Photocopied.

Gardner, Joan
1982
Textiles precolombinos del Ecuador, Miscelnea Antropolgica Ecuatoriana 2, pp. 24-23. Museos del Banco
Central del Ecuador, Cuenca, Guayaquil, Quito. Translated by Mnica Williams.
Gisbert, Teresa with Sylvia Arze and Martha Cajas
1987
Arte textil y mundo andino. Gisbert y Ca., La Paz (Bolivia).
Harcourt, Raoul d'
1934
Les Textiles anciens du Prou et leur techniques. Les ditions d'Art et d'Histoire, Paris.
1962

Textiles of Ancient Peru and Their Techniques. Edited by Grace G. Denny and Carolyn M. Osborne,
translated by Sadie Brown. University of Washington Press, Seattle.

Johnson, Irmgard Weitlaner

1959
Hilado y tejido, Esplendor del Mxico antiguo, edited by Carmen Cook de Leonard. Centro de
Investigaciones Antropolgicas de Mxico, Mxico, D.F. Segunda edicin, corregida y aumentada, 1976, pp.
439-478, Editorial del Valle de Mxico.

19

1977

Los Textiles de la Cueva de la Candelaria, Coahuila. Coleccin Cientfica 51, Arqueologa, Instituto
Nacional de Antropologa e Historia, Mxico.

Lavalle, Jos Antonio, and Rosario de Lavalle de Cardenas, editors

1999
Tejidos milenarios del Per / Ancient Peruvian Textiles. AFP Integra, Lima.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1972
Multilingual Glossary of Textile Terminology. English and Spanish. Fibers and Polymers Laboratory,
Cambridge, Mass.
Mastache de Escobar, Alba Guadalupe
1971
Tecnicas prehispnicas del tejido. Serie Investigaciones 20, Instituto Nacional de Antropologa e Historia,
Mxico.
Meja de Rodas, Idalma and Rosario Miralbs de Polanco
1987
Cambio en Colotenango. Museo Ixchel del Traje Indgena de Guatemala, Guatemala.
O'Neale, Lila M.
1932
Tejidos del perodo primitivo de Paracas, Revista del Museo Nacional, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 60-80. Lima, Peru.
1935

Pequeas prendas ceremoniales de Paracas, Revista del Museo Nacional, vol. IV, no. 2, pp. 245-266. Lima.

1965

Tejidos de los altiplanos de Guatemala. Translated by Edith Recourat C. Seminario de Integracin Social
Guatemalteca, vols. 17-18, Guatemala.

Prez de Micou, Cecilia

2002
Cestera en contextos arqueolgicos fnebres de Noroeste Argentino: El yacimiento 26 del sitio Doncellas,
Jujuy (Repblica Argentina), Actas, II Jornadas internacionales sobre textiles precolombinos, edited by
Victria Solanilla Demestre, pp. 333-345. Departament dArt, Universitat Autnoma de Barcelona, and
Institut Catal de Cooperaci Iberoamericana.
Ramos, Luis J.
1973
Los tejidos preincaicos del Museo de Amrica, Cuadernos Prehispnicos, no. 1, pp. 7-36. Valladolid.
Ramos Gmez, Luis J. and Mara Concepcin Blasco Bosqued
1976
Tcnicas textiles del Per prehispnico utilizadas en los tejidos del Museo de Amrica de Madrid, Cuadernos
Prehispnicos, no. 4, Valladolid.
1977

Tejidos y tcnicas textiles en el Per prehispnico, con un complemento de analogas terminolgicas de Mara
Flor Portillo. Seminario Americanista de la Universidad de Valladolid.

1980

Los tejidos prehispnicos del area central andina en el Museo de Amrica (con una apndice sobre:
Equivalencias de las tcnicas del telar prehispnicas del Per por Mara Flor Portillo). Imprenta del
Ministerio de Cultura, Lima.

Real Academia Espaola

1984
Diccionario de la lengua espaola. Madrid.
Rodriguez Ontiveros, Joaqun
1949
Diccionario textil panamericano. Panamerican Publishing Co., New York.
Rolandi de Perrot, Diana
1973
Capitulo VI: Los textiles tastileos, Tastil: una ciudad preincaica Argentina, proyecto y direccin Eduardo M.
Cigliano, pp. 229-402. Ediciones Cabargon, Buenos Aires.

20

1981

Analisis de la cesteria de Alero de los Sauces, Villa El Chocon, Provincia de Neuquen, pp. 63-77, and Analisis
de la cesteria de Alero de Dique, Departamento Provincia de Neuquen, pp. 153-163. Trabajos de Prehistoria,
no. 1, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Ciencias Antropolgicas.

Rolandi de Perrot, Diana S. and Dora Jimenez de Pupareli

1985
La tejedura tradicional de la puna argentino-boliviana. Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Antropologa,
vol. 10, 1983-85, pp. 205-289. probably Buenos Aires.
Rolandi de Perrot, Diana and Cecelia Prez de Micou
1985
Los materiales textiles y cesteros de Huachichocana III y IV, Departamento de Tumbaya, Jujuy,
Paleoetnologica, vol. IX, pp. 35-41. Buenos Aires.
Rowe, Ann Pollard
1977
Warp-Patterned Weaves of the Andes. The Textile Museum, Washington.
1978

Prcticas textiles en el area del Cusco, Tecnologa andina, edited by Rogger Ravines, pp. 369-394. Instituto
de Estudios Peruanos, Lima. Translated from an article in the 1975 Textile Museum Journal (published 1976),
but I did not see this translation before it was published.

1984

Costume and Featherwork of the Lords of Chimor: Textiles of Perus North Coast. The Textile Museum,
Washington.

1985

After Emery: Further Considerations of Fabric Classification and Terminology, The Textile Museum Journal,
vol. 23, 1984, pp. 53-71. Washington.

1996a

In Search of a Classification of Textile Techniques, Bulletin du CIETA 73, 1995-96, pp. 123-139. Centre
International dEtude des Textiles Anciens, Lyon.

1996b

The Art of Peruvian Textiles, Andean Art at Dumbarton Oaks, edited by Elizabeth Hill Boone, vol. 2, pp. 329345. Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington.

1999

Textiles chim / Chimu Textiles, Tejidos milenarios del Per / Ancient Peruvian Textiles, edited by Jos
Antonio de Lavalle and Rosario de Lavalle de Cardenas, pp. 425-479. AFP Integra, Lima. I sent Rosario this
vocabulary, which she shared with other translators for the volume, and I did review the translation, although
in the final rush to print, not all corrections were entered.

ms

La Textilera prehispnica del Per. Written for Enciclopedia Tmatica del Per, to be published by Milla
Batres, Lima. Written in 1988 in English, translated into Spanish in 1989. The encyclopedia was published in
2002, but I am not sure if my text was included or not.

Saugy, Catalina
1974
Artesanas de misiones. Informes del Instituto Nacional de Antropologa, Relevamiento cultural de la
provincia de misiones, pp. 143-164. Buenos Aires.
Seiler-Baldinger, Annemarie
1973
Systematik der Textilen Techniken, Basler Beitrge zur Ethnologie, Band 14, Basel.
1979

Classification of Textile Techniques. Calico Museum of Textiles, Ahmedabad.

1991

Systematik der Textilien Techniken, Basler Beitrge zur Ethnologie, Band 32, Basel.

1995

Textiles: A Classification of Techniques. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington.

Ulloa Torres, Liliana

21

1981

Evolucin de la industria textil prehispnica en la zona de Arica, pp. 97-108 and Estilos decorativos y formas
textiles de poblaciones agromartimas, extremo norte de Chile, pp. 109-136, Chungar 8, Universidad del
Norte, Depto. de Antropologa, Arica.

1985

Vestimentas y adornos prehispnicos en Arica/ Prehispanic Garments and Ornaments in Arica, pp. 15-23.
Arica, Diez mil Aos, Museo Chileno de Arte Precolombino, Santiago de Chile.

Vreeland, James M., Jr.

1974
Procedimiento para la evaluacin y clasificacin del material textile andino, Arqueolgicas, no. 15, pp. 70-96.
Publicaciones del Instituto de Investigaciones Antropolgicas, Museo Nacional de Antropologa y
Arqueologa, Instituto Nacional de Cultura, Lima.
Vreeland, James M. and Jorge C. Muelle
1976
Breve glosario de terminologa textil andina, Boletn, no. 17-18 (1975-76), pp. 7-21. Seminario de
Arqueologa, Instituto Riva Agero, Lima.
Yacovleff, Eugenio and Jorge C. Muelle
1934
Un fardo funerario de Paracas, Revista del Museo Nacional, vol. III, nos. 1-2, pp. 63-153. Lima.

22

CAPTIONS FOR DIAGRAMS OF STRUCTURES

Fig. l Eslabonado simple (simple linking).
[Harcourt 1934 Fig. 54A, 1962 Fig. 67A]
Fig. 2 Anillado simple (simple looping). En cada hilera el cruce est al revs del de la hilera anterior. [Harcourt 1934
Fig. 55, 1962 Fig. 68]
Fig. 3 Anillado y torcido (loop and twist). En cada hilera los anillos son torcidos en la direccin opuesta del de la
hilera anterior. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 56, 1962 Fig. 69]
Fig. 4 Anillado en forma de ocho (figure-eight looping). El hilo recto en el lado de este diagrama no es necesario.
[Harcourt 1934 Fig. 54B, 1962 Fig. 67B; the diagram should be turned sideways to the way it is printed in the book;
ideally the straight line should be removed.]
Fig. 5 Anillado tricotado cruzado (cross-knit looping). En cada hilera el cruce est al revs del de la hilera anterior.
Todos los anillos estn en la misma cara del tejido. B es la cara opuesta de A. Es possible formar la misma estructura
con la tcnica de tricotar. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 60-II, 1962 Fig. 73-II]
Fig. 6 Anillado anudado con nudo simple (knotted looping with the half hitch). En cada hilera los nudos son atados en
la direccin opuesta del de la hilera anterior. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 61, 1962 Fig. 74]
Fig. 7 Anillado anudado con nudo cuadrado (nudo de envergue) (knotted looping with the square knot). Todos los
nudos son atados en la misma direccin. B es la cara opuesta de A. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 63, 1962 Fig. 76]
Fig. 8 Tricotado llano (plain knitting), clasificado por Emery como anillado por anillos verticales (vertical
interlooping). Los anillos son abiertos. Todos los anillos estn en la misma cara del tejido. B es la cara opuesta de A.
[Harcourt 1934 Fig. 60-I, 1962 Fig. 73-I]
Fig. 9 Anillado simple sobre un elemento de base (simple looping on a foundation element). [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 57A,
1962 Fig. 70A]
Fig. 10 Eslabonado por juego de elementos (interlinking). El diagrama muestra como formar esta estructura con el
juego de elementos fijado en cada extremo (la tcnica de sprang). [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 50B, 1962 Fig. 52B]
Fig. 11 Entrelazado oblcuo llano (plain oblique interlacing). El diagrama muestra como formar esta estructura con el
juego de elementos fijado en cada extremo (sprang). Tambien es possible formarlo con cabos libres (trenzar).
[Harcourt 1934 Fig. 49C, 1962 Fig. 51C]
Fig. 12 Encordado oblcuo (oblique twining). [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 48, 1962 Fig. 48]
Fig. 13 Encordado oblcuo en ambas diagonales (oblique intertwining). En este ejemplo, se produce un efecto calado
por torsines adicionales entre los cruzamientos. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 45, ditto 1962]
Fig. 14 Tejidos simples (simple weaves). A. tejido llano (plain weave), entrelazado uno por encima, uno por debajo
(1/1). B. sarga (twill), entrelazado dos por encima, dos por debajo (2/2). C. sarga, entrelazado dos por encima, uno por
debajo (2/1). [Harcourt Fig. 15]
Fig. 15 Diagrama mostrando los diferentes mtodos de cambiar colores de hilos de trama discontinuos en tejido tapiz.
A. con ranuras (slit). B. entrabado (interlocked). C. empalmado (dovetailed). [Harcourt Fig. 12].
Fig. 16 Tejido de hilos flotantes alternos (alternating float weave). B es la cara opuesta de A. En A, los hilos flotantes
son de la urdimbre; en B, son de la trama. Diagrama por la autora.
Fig. 17 Tejido llano con hilos de trama suplementarios (plain weave with supplementary-weft). A. los hilos de trama
suplementarios son continuos. B. los hilos de trama suplementarios son discontinuos (brocado). [Harcourt Figs. 22-23]

23

Fig. 18 Tejido llano con sustitucin de tramas (plain weave with weft substitution). En este ejemplo, las dos tramas
juntas se entrelazan con un hilo de urdimbre cuando intercambian de cara. A. cara con tramas flotantes B. cara tejida
C. seccin transversal. [Harcourt Fig. 24]
Fig. 19 Tejido con juegos de urdimbres complementarios que flotan por encima de tres hilos de trama en alinamiento
alterno (complementary-warp weave with three-span floats in alternating alignment). Esta estructura es de doble cara.
B. seccin longitudinal. [Harcourt fig. 20]
Fig. 20 Diagrama esquemtico de tela doble (double cloth). A. seccin transversal de tejido simple. B. seccin
transversal de tejido doble sin intercambio (interchange) de tramas. C y D. seccin transversal de tejido doble con
intercambio de tramas. E. seccin longitudinal de tejido doble sin intercambio de urdimbres. F. seccin longitudinal
de tejido doble con intercambio de urdimbres. Tela doble es tejido llano en dos capas con intercambio de tramas y de
urdimbres. [Harcourt Fig. 25]
Fig. 21 Tejido de gasa (gauze weave). A. tejido llano. B. tejido de gasa simple en alinamiento alterno. C. tejido de
gasa simple en alinamiento vertical. [Harcourt Fig. 29A]
Fig. 22 Encordado de dos hilos de urdimbre (two-strand warp twining), de torsin S alternada con Z: contrario
(countered). Este diagrama muestra la tcnica de formarlo con hilos de urdimbre anillados. Tambien es possible
formarlo con los hilos de urdimbre fijados en cada extremo. [Harcourt Fig. 38]
Fig. 23 La torsin de un hilo se denomina "S" o "Z" conforme a la inclinacin del espiral del elemento hilado o
torcido, mirndolo en posicin vertical. Si la inclinacin corresponde a la de la parte central de la letra "S", se
denomina "S". Si la inclinacin corresponde a la parte central de la letra "Z", se denomina "Z". [Emery 1966, Diagram
1, p. 11]
Fig. 24 Encordado torcido en Z de dos hilos de trama (two-strand Z-twist weft twining). [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 41; 1962
Fig. 41 also twining, but a different diagram also showing twining on paired warps]
Fig. 25 Telar de cintura (backstrap loom) del tipo usado en el Per prehispnico y hoy. A. La calada de la vara de la
calada est abierta. B. La calada de la vara del lizo est abierta. aa'. barras del telar (loom bars). b. vara de la calada
(shed rod). c. vara del lizo (heddle rod). ee'. cuerda de extremidad. f. trama, terminando en la lanzadera (shuttle). g.
urdimbre. i. amarre del telar. j. cintura del telar. [Harcourt Fig. 3]
Fig. 26 Tejido llano con hilos de urdimbre y trama discontinuos entrabados (plain weave with discontinous warps and
wefts interlocked). En esta tcnica, no es possible usar una vara del lizo o una vara de la calada. En cambio, es
necesario entrelazar los hilos de trama con aguja, o sea zurcir. [Harcourt Fig. 11]
Fig. 27 Tejido llano bordado con punto de cordoncillo (plain weave embroidered in stem stitch), por encima de cuatro
hilos del fondo y debajo de dos. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 76Aa, 1962 Fig. 92Aa]
Fig. 28 Tejido llano bordado con punto anillado tricotado cruzado (plain weave embroidered in cross-knit loop stitch).
[Harcourt 1934 Fig. 74A, 1962 Fig. 90A]
Fig. 29 Anillado anudado con nudos cuadrados (knotted looping with square knots) y pelo insertado en hileras alternas
de nudos. El orden de entrelazado del nudo doble simtrico (lark's head knot, nudo de cabeza de alondra), tal como
aparece en la primera hilera del diagrama, es igual al orden para el nudo cuadrado. Es el modo de apretarlo que es
diferente. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 67, 1962 Fig. 81B]
Fig. 30 Seccin transversal de tejido con pelo formado de anillos de trama suplementaria (weave with supplementary
weft loop pile). [Harcourt Fig. 14]
Fig. 31 Tejido de mallas cuadradas y triangulares hecho con urdimbre y trama espaciadas. Uno de los dos hilos de
trama se entrelaza y el otro envuelve. [Harcourt Fig. 35]

24

Fig. 32 Tejido con urdimbre y trama espaciadas y con tramas envolventes (weave with spaced warps and wefts and
wrapping wefts), formando mallas cuadradas, como en la Fig. 31, bordado. [Harcourt 1934 Fig. 78, 1962 Fig. 94]