Wiktionary

catafalque

English

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WOTD – 24 February 2006
 
Lincoln Catafalque

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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catafalque (plural catafalques)

  1. A platform used to display or convey a coffin during a funeral, often ornate.
    • 1942, Maurine Whipple, The Giant Joshua:
      Until noon, the hour of the funeral, crowds continued to file by the plain pine coffin on its plain flower-covered catafalque.
    • 1976, “China Yearbook 1976”, in The Hallmark‎[1], Taipei: China Publishing Co., →OCLC, page 2:
      After another brief funeral rite at Tzu Hu, the presidential casket was laid on the catafalque in the central hall of a temporary “mausoleum” and sealed with marble slabs. There, the body of President Chiang will rest pending permanent burial in the mainland after its recovery.
    • 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge, published 2008, page 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.

Translations

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Further reading

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French

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French Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia fr

Etymology

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Borrowed from Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, from Ancient Greek κατά (katá, “down”) + Latin fala (“scaffolding, wooden siege tower”), which is from Etruscan. Doublet of échafaud.

Pronunciation

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IPA(key): /ka.ta.falk/

Noun

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catafalque m (plural catafalques)

  1. catafalco, catafalque
    • 1936, André Gide, Retour de l'U.R.S.S., Gallimard, →ISBN:
      J’avais vu la Place Rouge, quelques jours auparavant, lors des funérailles de Gorki. J’avais vu ce même peuple [...] défiler longuement, interminablement, dans la grande Salle des Colonnes, devant le catafalque.
      I had seen Red Square, several days before, during Gorky's funeral. I had seen this same people […] file for a long time, interminably, past the catafalque in the great Hall of Columns.
    • 1974, Marguerite Yourcenar, Souvenirs pieux, Gallimard, →ISBN, page 207:
      À l’église, Octave s’absorbe dans la contemplation du haut catafalque sur lequel reposent, comme la dépouille mince et dorée d’un grand insecte, l’uniforme et les ordres du défunt.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • → English: catafalque (see there for further descendants)
  • → German: Katafalk

Further reading

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