PALL  , a word the various meanings of which can be traced to the Latin word

pallium, that is, a piece of cloth used either as a covering or as a garment . In the last sense the pallium was the iµfTwv, the square or oblong-shaped outer garment of the Greeks . In the sense of a garment the English usage of " pall " is confined to the ecclesiastical vestment (see PALLIUM) and to the supertunica or dalmatic, the pallium regale or imperial mantle, one of the principal coronation vestments of British sovereigns . The heraldic bearing known as a " pall " takes the form of the Y of the ecclesiastical vestment . The chief applications of the word, in the sense of a covering, are to an altar frontal, to a linen cloth used to veil the chalice i'n the Catholic service of the Eucharist, and to a heavy black, purple or white covering for a coffin or hearse . The livery companies of London possessed sumptuous state palls for the funerals of their members, of which some are still in existence . The Merchant Taylors' company have two examples of Italian workmanship . The so-called " Walworth pall " of the Fishmongers' company probably dates from the 16th century . The Vintners' pall is of cloth of gold and purple velvet, with a figure of St Martin of Tours, the company'sipatron saint . An entirely different word is " to pall," to become or make stale, insipid or tasteless, hence to cease to interest from constant repetition; this is a shortened form of " appal " (O . Fr. appallir, to become pale; Lat. pallidus) .