catafalque
English
WOTD – 24 February 2006
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from French catafalque, from Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, from Ancient Greek κατά (katá, “down”) + Latin fala (“scaffolding, wooden siege tower”), which is from Etruscan. Also influenced scaffold.
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈkatəfalk/
Noun
catafalque (plural catafalques)
- A platform used to display or convey a coffin during a funeral, often ornate.
- 1942, The Giant Joshua by Maurine Whipple
- Until noon, the hour of the funeral, crowds continued to file by the plain pine coffin on its plain flower-covered catafalque.
- 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 91:
- The period of official mourning was long-drawn-out even by the standards of the day; the funeral ceremony held in Avignon's cathedral lasted a full nine days, with the pope's catafalque hung with black silk beneath candelabra likewise draped in black.
- 1942, The Giant Joshua by Maurine Whipple
Translations
platform to display or convey a coffin
French
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, from Ancient Greek κατά (katá, “down”) + Latin fala (“scaffolding, wooden siege tower”), which is from Etruscan.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ka.ta.falk/
Audio (file) - Homophone: catafalques
Further reading
- “catafalque” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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