apse

See also: apsē

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /æps/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æps
• Homophone: apps

Etymology 1

From Latin apsis, hapsis, from Ancient Greek ἁψίς (hapsís, “arch, vault”), from ἅπτω (háptō, “I bind, join”).

Noun

apse (plural apses or apsides)

an apse

Here the apse (strictest sense, etymology 1 sense 1.1) is highlighted.

2. (architecture) The rounded east end of a church that contains or is behind the altar.

   Synonyms: apsis, apside

   Holonyms: church, cathedral

   Meronyms: ambulatory, apse chapels

   Near-synonyms: chancel, presbytery, sanctuary (all broadly synonymous)

   Our private tour of the cathedral even allowed us to walk through the apse, which most tours don't.

   • 1960, Leo Steinberg, San Carlo Alle Quattro Fontane: A Study in Multiple Form and Architectural Symbolism:

     The draughtsman could not have held the sheet with the apse at the tip, for then, instead of shading away from the edge, most of his hatched lines would begin in the uncharted middle ground of a shadeable area, to strike against the contour; […]

   2. (strictest sense) The interior portion of this section of the church building, excluding the ambulatory and any apse chapels.

      Comeronyms: ambulatory, apse chapels

4. A semicircular projection from any building that is similar to a church's apse.

   The college has an apse that once held a small chapel.

6. The bishop's seat or throne in ancient churches.

   Coordinate term: see (his seat in the sense of his episcopal office)

8. A reliquary: a case in which the relics of saints are kept.
10. (astronomy) Obsolete form of apsis (“the nearest and furthest points to the centre of gravitational attraction for a body in orbit”).

    Synonyms: apsis, apside

Derived terms

• apse chapel
• apse line
• counterapse
• synapse

Translations

semicircular projection from a building

• Albanian: absidë (sq) f, kungë (sq) f, kungore f, ajodhimë (sq) f, shenjtërore (sq) f
• Bulgarian: аспида (aspida)
• Catalan: absis (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 半圓形後殿 / 半圆形后殿

• Czech: apsida (cs) f
• Danish: apsis m, korrunding m
• Dutch: apsis (nl) f
• Esperanto: absido
• Finnish: kuori (fi), apsis (fi), absidi
• French: abside (fr) f
• Galician: ábsida (gl)
• Georgian: აფსიდა (ka) (apsida)
• German: Apsis (de) f
• Greek: αψίδα (el) f (apsída)
• Hungarian: apszis (hu)
• Irish: cúlbhá f
• Italian: abside (it) f
• Manx: apse m
• Norwegian: apsis m, korrunding m
• Polish: apsyda (pl) f, absyda (pl) f
• Portuguese: abside (pt) f
• Romanian: (architecture) absidă (ro) f
• Russian: апси́да (ru) f (apsída)
• Slovak: apsida (sk) f
• Slovene: apsida (sl) f
• Spanish: ábside (es) m, (rare) ábsida (es) f
• Swedish: absid (sv) c

bishop's seat or throne

• Finnish: piispanistuin
• Irish: cathaoir easpaig f
• Manx: apse m
• Persian: محراب (fa) (mehrab), تابوک (fa) (tābuk)

case in which the relics were kept — see reliquary

astronomy: apsis — see apsis

obsolete or dialectal: aspen tree — see aspen

Etymology 2

Noun

apse (plural apses)

1. (obsolete or dialectal) An aspen tree.

Apse

Anagrams

• pase, SEPA, Peas, Paes, PEAs, spae, peas, APEs, Sepa, EAPs, EPAs, apes, PESA

Latvian

Apse

Etymology

From Proto-Baltic *apse, from Proto-Indo-European *apsā, from *(H)osp-, already the name of the same tree.

Cognates include Lithuanian ẽpušė, dialectal ãpušė, apušė̃, Old Prussian abse, Proto-Slavic *o(p)sa (Russian оси́на (osína), Ukrainian оси́на (osýna), Belarusian асі́на (asína), all from earlier *o(p)sina, Bulgarian оси́ка (osíka), Czech dialectal and Polish osa, osina), Old High German aspa, Middle High German aspe, German Espe, Old Norse ǫsp, English asp, Swedish asp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [apsɛ]

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

apse f (5th declension)

1. aspen tree (esp. Populus tremula)

   apses koksne ― aspen wood

   smaržīgā apse ― fragrant aspen

   ātraudzīgā apse ― fast-growing aspen

   trīc kā apšu lapa ― (s/he) trembles like an aspen leaf

Declension

Declension of apse (5th)

	singular (vienskaitlis)	plural (daudzskaitlis)
nominative	apse	apses
genitive	apses	apšu
dative	apsei	apsēm
accusative	apsi	apses
instrumental	apsi	apsēm
locative	apsē	apsēs
vocative	apse	apses

Derived terms

• apsājs (“aspen forest”)

Anagrams

• pase

Turkish

Etymology

Borrowed from French abcès, from Latin abscessus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ap.se/
• Hyphenation: ap‧se

Noun

apse (definite accusative apseyi, plural apseler)

1. (pathology) abscess

Declension

Declension of apse

singular plural nominative apse apseler definite accusative apseyi apseleri dative apseye apselere locative apsede apselerde ablative apseden apselerden genitive apsenin apselerin Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular apsem apselerim 2nd singular apsen apselerin 3rd singular apsesi apseleri 1st plural apsemiz apselerimiz 2nd plural apseniz apseleriniz 3rd plural apseleri apseleri definite accusative singular plural 1st singular apsemi apselerimi 2nd singular apseni apselerini 3rd singular apsesini apselerini 1st plural apsemizi apselerimizi 2nd plural apsenizi apselerinizi 3rd plural apselerini apselerini dative singular plural 1st singular apseme apselerime 2nd singular apsene apselerine 3rd singular apsesine apselerine 1st plural apsemize apselerimize 2nd plural apsenize apselerinize 3rd plural apselerine apselerine locative singular plural 1st singular apsemde apselerimde 2nd singular apsende apselerinde 3rd singular apsesinde apselerinde 1st plural apsemizde apselerimizde 2nd plural apsenizde apselerinizde 3rd plural apselerinde apselerinde ablative singular plural 1st singular apsemden apselerimden 2nd singular apsenden apselerinden 3rd singular apsesinden apselerinden 1st plural apsemizden apselerimizden 2nd plural apsenizden apselerinizden 3rd plural apselerinden apselerinden genitive singular plural 1st singular apsemin apselerimin 2nd singular apsenin apselerinin 3rd singular apsesinin apselerinin 1st plural apsemizin apselerimizin 2nd plural apsenizin apselerinizin 3rd plural apselerinin apselerinin

Further reading

• “apse”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu
• Ayverdi, İlhan (2010), “apse”, in Misalli Büyük Türkçe Sözlük, a reviewed and expanded single-volume edition, Istanbul: Kubbealtı Neşriyatı