belfry

English

Etymology

From Middle English belfrey, bellfray, belfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey (changed to have an l by association with bell), from Middle High German bërcvrit or bërvrit (“'protect peace', a defensive tower”), possibly via Late Latin berefredus, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerĝʰ, *bʰr̥ĝʰ + *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: bĕlʹfrē, IPA^(key): /ˈbɛlfɹi/

Noun

belfry (plural belfries)

1. (obsolete) A movable tower used in sieges.
2. (dialectal) A shed.
3. (obsolete) An alarm-tower; a watchtower containing an alarm-bell.
4. (architecture) A tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church.
5. (architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC:
     Episode 12, The Cyclops

     From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.

Derived terms

• have bats in one's belfry, have bats in the belfry

Translations

moveable tower used in sieges

• Bulgarian: обсадна кула (obsadna kula)
• Finnish: piiritystorni
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: beffroi (fr) m
• German: Belagerungsturm (de) m

watchtower containing an alarm-bell

• Bulgarian: наблюдателна кула (nabljudatelna kula)
• Dutch: belfort (nl) n
• Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• French: beffroi (fr) m
• German: Bergfried (de) m
• Interlingue: ,

tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church

• Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
• Dutch: klokkentoren (nl) m
• Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
• French: beffroi (fr) m
• Friulian: cjampanîli, cjampanili, cjampanîl, cjampanil
• German: Glockenturm (de) m
• Greek: καμπαναριό (el) n (kampanarió), κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
• Hungarian: harangtorony (hu)
• Irish: clogás m
• Istriot: canpaneîl, canpanèil
• Italian: campanile (it) m
• Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Manx: claggys m, thie cluig m, shamyr chluig f
• Maori: pourewa pere
• Polish: dzwonnica (pl) f
• Portuguese: campanário (pt) m, torre sineira f
• Romansch: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
• Russian: колоко́льня (ru) f (kolokólʹnja)
• Spanish: campanil, campanario (es)
• Swedish: klocktorn (sv)
• Tagalog: batingawan
• Ukrainian: дзвіни́ця (uk) f (dzvinýcja)
• Venetian: canpanil, canpanile, canpanièl, canpaniłe

part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells

• Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
• Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
• German: Glockenstube (de) f
• Greek: κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
• Irish: clogás m
• Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)
• Maori: pourewa pere
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: klokkerom n

  Nynorsk: klokkerom n

• Portuguese: campanário (pt) m
• Romansch: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
• Spanish: campanario (es) m
• Tagalog: batingawan

References

• Michael Quinion (2004) “Belfry”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.