reredos

English

The reredos in Hereford Cathedral, England

Alternative forms

• raredos, reredosse

Etymology

From Middle English reredos, from Anglo-Norman reredos, areredos; equivalent to rere (“rear”) + French dos (“back”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹiɹ.dɒs/, IPA^(key): /ˈɹiɹɪdɒs/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

reredos (plural reredoses)

1. (chiefly Western Christianity) A screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images, akin to the iconostasis of the Eastern Churches.

   Synonym: retable

   Coordinate term: iconostasis

   • 1871, The Sacristy: A Quarterly Review of Ecclesiastical Art and Literature, volume 1, London: John Hodges, page 246:

     A bad reredos will ruin the best church ever designed; and, although a good reredos cannot convert a bad church into a good one, it may do much to lessen the offensiveness of its badness.

   • 1998, Paul V. M. Flesher, “Rereading the Reredos: David, Orpheus, and Messianism in the Dura Europa Syngogue”, in Dān Ûrman, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, editors, Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, page 363:

     Confusion has reigned in scholarly interpretation, however, because the dark-colored leaves have shown through the succeeding coats of paint across the reredos, interfering with the later scenes.

   • 2007, F. E. Howard, English Church Woodwork, page 137:

     There seem to be no remains of wooden reredoses of the fourteenth century, though there are a number of examples in stone.

2. The back of an open fire-hearth, in medieval halls.

Translations

screen or decoration behind the altar in a church — see retable

Further reading

• reredos on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Roeders, eroders, redoers, redorse

Middle English

reredos

Alternative forms

• redose, rerdoose, rerdos, rerdose, reredoce, rere-doos, reredose, rierdos

Etymology

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman reredos, areredos; equivalent to rere (“rear, following”) + Old French dos (“back”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈrɛːr(ə)dɔs/, /ˈrɛːr(ə)dɔːs/

Noun

reredos (plural reredosis)

1. A reredos or retable; a panel at the back of an altar.
2. A dorsal; a hanging or tapestry at the back of an altar.
3. (rare) The back of a fireplace or hearth.
4. (rare) A wood screen against the back of a chair or wall.
5. (rare) A panel of armour for protecting the rear.
6. (rare) The rearguard of an army.

Descendants

• English: reredos

References

• “rēre-dō̆s(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-08-11.