candelabrum

English

A three-armed brass candelabrum

Pair of porcelain Rococo candelabra

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin candēlābrum (“candlestick”), from candēla. Doublet of chandelier. Displaced native Old English candeltrēow (literally “candle tree”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Received Pronunciation) /kændɪˈlɑːbɹəm/
• IPA^(key): /kændɪˈleɪbɹəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌkæn.dl̩ˈɑ.bɹəm/, /ˌkæn.dl̩ˈæ.bɹəm/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: can‧de‧la‧brum

Noun

candelabrum (plural candelabra or (very rare) candelabrums)

1. A candle holder with branches to hold more than one candle.
   • 1922 October, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “Part II. A Game of Chess.”, in The Waste Land, 1st book edition, New York, N.Y.: Boni and Liveright, published December 1922, →OCLC, page 17:

     The chair she sat in, like a burnished throne, / Glowed on the marble, where the glass […] Doubled the flames of sevenbranched candelabra / Reflecting light upon the table as / The glitter of her jewels rose to meet it, […]

   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter 6, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 58:

     Cyby followed us holding up his candelabrum—I suppose more for his benefit than mine, but it permitted me to see well enough to keep from colliding with the dark oak shelves we passed.

Related terms

• candela
• candid
• candidate
• candle
• chandelier
• chandler
• chandlery

Translations

candle holder

• Albanian: shandan (sq) m
• Arabic: قِنْدِيل (ar) m (qindīl), شَمْعَدَان m (šamʕadān), مُشَعَّب m (mušaʕʕab), فُنْيَار m (funyār)
• Armenian: ճյուղավոր աշտանակ (čyuġavor aštanak), ճյուղավոր մոմակալ (čyuġavor momakal)
• Azerbaijani: şamdan
• Belarusian: кандэля́бр m (kandeljábr)
• Bulgarian: све́щник (bg) m (svéštnik), кандела́бър m (kandelábǎr)
• Catalan: canelobre (ca) m; candelobre (Algherese)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 燭臺 / 燭台 / 烛台 (zhútái), 分枝燭臺 / 分枝燭台 / 分枝烛台 (fēnzhī zhútái)

• Czech: svícen (cs) m
• Danish: kandelaber c
• Dutch: kandelaar (nl) m, kaarshouder (nl) m, kaarsenstandaard (nl) m
• Esperanto: kandelabro (eo), kandelingo (eo)
• Estonian: kandelaaber
• Finnish: kynttilänjalka (fi), kynttelikkö (fi), haarakynttelikkö
• French: candélabre (fr) m
• Georgian: შანდალი (ka) (šandali)
• German: Kerzenständer (de) m, (with more than one arm also) Armleuchter (de) m, Kandelaber (de) m
• Greek: μανουάλι (el) n (manouáli), κηροπήγιο (el) n (kiropígio)
• Hungarian: kandeláber (hu)
• Icelandic: kertastjaki (is) m
• Ido: kandelabro (io)
• Indonesian: kandelar
• Irish: coinnleoir craobhach m
• Italian: candelabro (it) m
• Japanese: 枝付き燭台 (えだつき しょくだい, edatsuki shokudai)
• Korean: 촛대 (ko) (chotdae)
• Latin: candēlābrum n
• Latvian: svečturis m
• Lithuanian: žvakidė f
• Macedonian: свеќник m (sveḱnik)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kandelaber m

• Old English: candeltrēow n
• Pannonian Rusyn: швичнїк m (švičnjik)
• Persian: شَمعدان (fa) (šam'dân)
• Polish: kandelabr (pl) m
• Portuguese: candelabro (pt) m
• Romanian: candelabru (ro) n
• Russian: канделя́бр (ru) m (kandeljábr)
• Sardinian:

  Campidanese: candelargiu

  Logudorese: candelarzu, candelobre

• Sassarese: canderabru
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: све̑ћња̄к m / свије̑ћња̄к m, во̀ска̄рница f, во̀шта̄рница f

  Latin: svȇćnjāk m / svijȇćnjāk m, vòskārnica (sh) f, vòštārnica (sh) f

• Slovak: svietnik m
• Slovene: svečnik m
• Spanish: candelabro (es) m, tenebrario (es) m (triangular)
• Swedish: kandelaber (sv) c
• Tajik: шамъдон (šam'don)
• Turkish: şamdan (tr), mumluk (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎐𐎗𐎚 (mnrt)
• Ukrainian: канделя́бр (uk) m (kandeljábr)

Latin

Alternative forms

• candēlāber
• candēlābrus

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)kend-der.

Proto-Italic *kandēō

Latin candeō

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₁-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₁-léh₂

Proto-Italic *-ēlā

Latin -ēla

Latin candēla

Latin -brum

Latin candēlābrum

From candēla (“candle”) + -brum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kan.deːˈɫaː.brũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kan.deˈlaː.brum]

Noun

candēlābrum n (genitive candēlābrī); second declension

1. branched candlestick; chandelier, candelabrum, lampstand

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	candēlābrum	candēlābra
genitive	candēlābrī	candēlābrōrum
dative	candēlābrō	candēlābrīs
accusative	candēlābrum	candēlābra
ablative	candēlābrō	candēlābrīs
vocative	candēlābrum	candēlābra

Derived terms

• candēlābrārius

Related terms

• candefaciō
• candēla
• candēns
• candentia
• candeō
• candescō
• candicō
• candidus
• candificō
• candor

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: candelaio (suffix change)
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: canelobre, candelobre (from Vulgar *candelubrum)
  • French: chandelier (suffix change)
    • → English: chandelier
• Uncertain:
  • >? Italian: candelabro
  • >? Sardinian: candelòbbru, candelòbburu, candelòrbu, candhelobbre, candhelobbru, cannelobbru
  • >? Sassarese: canderabru

Borrowings:

• → Dutch: kandelaar (see there for further descendants)
• → English: candelabrum
• → Esperanto: kandelabro
• → French: candélabre (see there for further descendants)
• → Galician: candelabro
• → Ido: kandelabro
• → Portuguese: candelabro
• → Russian: канделя́бр (kandeljábr)
• → Spanish: candelabro
• → Ukrainian: канделя́бр (kandeljábr)

Further reading

• “candelabrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “candelabrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “candelabrum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “candelabrum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “candelabrum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin