​Soutane, the French term adopted into English for a cassock especially used for the general daily dress worn by the secular Roman clergy in France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. The Med. Lat. subtaneus, adapted in O. Fr. as sotane, in Span. and Ital. as sotana, and Port. as sotaina, meant an under-skirt, and is formed from subtus, beneath, sub, under. (See Cassock.)