See also: Altar, áltár, and ältar

English

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An altar in a monastery in Brandenburg, Germany

Etymology

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From Middle English alter, from Old English alter, taken from Latin altare (altar), probably related to adolere (burn); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (high). Displaced native Middle English wēved.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar (plural altars)

  1. A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
    • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 9–14:
      To hawke, or els to hunt
      From the auter to the funt,
      Wyth cry unreverent,
      Before the sacrament,
      Wythin the holy church bowndis,
      That of our fayth the grownd is.
  2. (informal) A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.
  3. (figurative) Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.
    • 2000, Alain Renaut, M. B. De Bevoise, Era of the Individual: A Contribution to a History of Subjectivity:
      [] now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality.

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Maori: āta

Translations

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar m (plural altars)

  1. altar

References

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  • “altar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Chavacano

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Etymology

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Inherited from Spanish altar.

Noun

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altár

  1. altar

Cimbrian

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Etymology

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From Middle High German alter, altære, from Old High German altāri, from Latin altāre. Cognate with German Altar.

Noun

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altar m (uncountable)

  1. (Sette Comuni) altar

References

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  • “altar” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Estonian

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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  This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

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altar (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

  1. altar

Declension

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This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

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  • altar”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
  • altar”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
  • altar in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Faroese

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Etymology

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From Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, from Latin altare (altar), cognate with Danish alter (altar).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar n (genitive singular altars, plural altar)

  1. altar

Declension

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n3 singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative altar altarið altar altarini
accusative altar altarið altar altarini
dative altari altarinum altarum altarunum
genitive altars altarsins altara altaranna

Galician

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altar, church of Saint Mary, Melide, Galicia.

Etymology

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From Old Galician-Portuguese altar (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar
    Synonym: ara
    • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 660:
      et talloulle a cabeça dentro ẽno tẽplo, ante o altar.
      and he cut his head inside, in the temple, before the altar.

Derived terms

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References

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Indonesian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Dutch altaar, from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar (first-person possessive altarku, second-person possessive altarmu, third-person possessive altarnya)

  1. mass offering table
  2. mazbah (sacrificial place)
  3. (nautical term) a ladder on a ship's dock used to get up and down to and from the dock floor

Further reading

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Irish

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): [ˈal̪ˠt̪ˠəɾˠ]

Verb

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altar

  1. present indicative autonomous of alt
  2. imperative autonomous of alt
  3. present subjunctive autonomous of alt

Mutation

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Mutated forms of altar
radical eclipsis with h-prothesis with t-prothesis
altar n-altar haltar not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Latin

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar n (genitive altāris); third declension

  1. Alternative form of altāre

Usage notes

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In pre-Classical and Classical Latin, this noun only occurs in the plural as a plurale tantum.

Declension

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Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

Descendants

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See altāre.

References

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  • altar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • altar”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia[1]

Lombard

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /alˈtɑːr/ (Milanese)

Noun

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altar m (plural altar)

  1. altar

Manx

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Noun

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altar m (plural altaryn)

  1. (religion) altar

Norwegian Bokmål

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Noun

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altar n

  1. form removed by a 1984 spelling decision; superseded by alter

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology 1

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From late Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, itself taken from Latin altāre (altar).

Alternative forms

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Noun

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altar n (definite singular altaret, indefinite plural altar, definite plural altara)

  1. an altar

Etymology 2

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Noun

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altar m

  1. indefinite plural of alt

References

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Old Galician-Portuguese

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Etymology

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From Latin altāre (altar for burnt offerings). Cf. also outeiro.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar (flat structure used for religious rites)

Descendants

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Old High German

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Etymology

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From Proto-Germanic *aldrą, whence also Old English ealdor, Old Norse aldr.

Noun

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altar n

  1. age

Derived terms

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Descendants

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Portuguese

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Etymology

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From Old Galician-Portuguese altar, from Latin altāre (altar for burnt offerings). Cf. also Portuguese outeiro.

Pronunciation

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  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /alˈtaɾ/ [aɫˈtaɾ]
    • (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /alˈta.ɾi/ [aɫˈta.ɾi]

Noun

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altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar (flat structure used for religious rites)

Romanian

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin altārium or altār, with the plural deriving from altāria. Compare oltar, a rare and dated variant which derives from the same source via a Slavic intermediary.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar n (plural altare)

  1. altar
    Synonym: pristol
  2. communion table
  3. chancel
  4. shrine, sanctuary
    Synonym: sanctuar

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative altar altarul altare altarele
genitive-dative altar altarului altare altarelor
vocative altarule altarelor

Further reading

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Spanish

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Spanish altar (attested as far back as the Cantar de Mio Cid[1]), from Latin altāre. See also otero.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar (a table used for religious rites)
  2. stone that separates the firebox from the hearth in reverberatory furnaces

Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “altar”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Further reading

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Tagalog

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Spanish altar, from Latin altāre. Doublet of alta.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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altár (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜎ᜔ᜆᜇ᜔)

  1. altar (a table used for religious rites)
    Synonyms: dalanginan, dambana, alta

Further reading

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