altar

See also Altar

English

Etymology

From Latin altare (“altar”), probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus burning place, influenced by a false connection with altus (“high”).

Pronunciation

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• Rhymes: -ɔːltə(r)
• Homophone: alter

Noun

altar (plural altars)

1. A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.

Derived terms

• altar boy
• altar poem
• high altar

Related terms

• adolere
• ara

Translations

flat-topped structure used for religious rites

Arabic: مذبح (ar) (mádhbaH) m., هيكل (ar) (háykal) m. Belarusian: алтар (be) (altár) m. Bulgarian: олтар (bg) (óltar) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 祭壇 (zh), 祭坛 (zh) (jìtán), 聖壇 (zh), 圣坛 (zh) (shèngtán) Czech: oltář (cs) m. Dalmatian: altur Danish: alter (da) Dutch: altaar (nl) n. Esperanto: altaro (eo) n. Ewe: vɔsamlekpui n. Finnish: alttari (fi) French: autel (fr) German: Altar (de) m. Greek: βωμός (el) (vomós) m. Hungarian: oltár (hu) Icelandic: altari (is) n. Italian: altare (it) m. Japanese: 祭壇 (ja) (さいだん, saidan) Korean: 제단 (ko) (jedan) (祭壇 (ko)) Latin: altare (la) n., ara (la)

Luxembourgish: Altor (lb) Macedonian: олтар (mk) (óltar) m. Norwegian: alter (no), altar (no) Old Norse: altari Old Saxon: altari Persian: محراب (fa) (mehrâb), مذبح (fa) (mazbah) Polish: ołtarz (pl) m. Portuguese: altar (pt) Romanian: altar (ro) Russian: алтарь (ru) (altár') m. Scottish Gaelic: altair (gd) f. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: жртвеник (sh) m., олтар (sh) m. Roman: žrtvenik (sh) m., oltar (sh) m. Slovak: oltár (sk) m. Slovene: oltar (sl) m. Spanish: altar (es) m. Swedish: altare (sv) Turkish: sunak (tr), mihrap (tr) Ukrainian: вівтар (uk) (vivtár) m.

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Galician

Noun

altar m. (plural altares)

1. altar

Synonyms

• ara

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Latin

Etymology

Found mainly in post-Classical Latin. In Classical Latin, used mostly in plural form altaria. Ultimately from adolere and influenced by altus. See also other forms altāre and altārium.

Noun

altar (genitive altaris); n, third declension

1. altar (for burnt offerings)

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	altar	altaria
genitive	altaris	altarium
dative	altarī	altaribus
accusative	altar	altaria
ablative	altarī	altaribus
vocative	altar	altaria

Descendants

• Portuguese: altar
• Romanian: altar
• Russian: алта́рь (altár') m.

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Manx

Noun

altar m. (plural altaryn)

1. (religion) altar

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Old Frisian

Noun

altar

1. altar

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Old High German

Etymology

Proto-Germanic *aldran, whence also Old English ealdor, Old Norse aldr

Noun

altar n.

1. age

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Romanian

Alternative forms

• altariu (dated, rare)

Etymology

From Latin altārium or altār. Cf. also oltar, a rare and dated variant from a Slavic intermediary.

Noun

altar n. (plural altare)

1. altar
2. communion table
3. chancel
4. shrine, sanctuary

Synonyms

• (altar): pristol
• (sanctuary): sanctuar

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Spanish

Etymology

From Latin altāre.

Noun

altar m. (plural altares)

1. altar
2. Stone that separates the firebox from the hearth in reverberatory furnaces