cartouche

English

WOTD – 3 February 2007

Cartouche on a Neo-Baroque city-house (sense 1) from Bucharest (Romania)

The cartouche of Ramses II (sense 2)

Etymology

Borrowed from French cartouche, from Italian cartuccia, from carta, from Latin charta, from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /kɑːˈtuːʃ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /kɑɹˈtuʃ/
• (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːʃ

Noun

cartouche (plural cartouches)

1. (architecture) An ornamental figure, often on an oval shield.
2. (Egyptian hieroglyphs) An oval figure containing the characters of an important personal name, such as that of royal or divine people.
   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She, ch III:

     Besides the uncial writing on the convex side of the sherd at the top, painted in dull red, on what had once been the lip of the amphora, was the cartouche already mentioned as being on the scarabaeus, which we had also found in the casket.

   • 2013, Margalit Fox, The Riddle of the Labyrinth, Profile 2014, p. 49:

     In 1762, Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, a French priest who was a scholar of Eastern languages, had made the inspired guess that the cartouches set off words of great importance, such as the names of gods or rulers.

3. A paper cartridge.
4. A wooden case filled with balls, to be shot from a cannon.
5. A gunner's bag for ammunition.
6. A military pass for a soldier on furlough.

Translations

in architecture

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卡圖什, 卡图什 (kǎtúshí)

• Czech: kartuše (cs) f, kartuš (cs)
• Danish: kartouche c
• Faroese: skreytramma f
• Finnish: kartussi (fi)
• French: cartouche (fr) m
• German: Kartusche (de) f
• Hungarian: kartus (hu)

• Japanese: カルトゥーシュ (karutūshu)
• Korean: 카르투시 (kareutusi)
• Polish: kartusz (pl) m
• Portuguese: cartela f, cártula f
• Russian: карту́ш (ru) m (kartúš), карте́ль (ru) m (kartɛ́lʹ), завито́к (ru) m (zavitók)
• Swedish: kartusch (sv)
• Ukrainian: ка́ртуш m (kártuš)

hieroglyphs

• Arabic: خَرْطُوش‎ m (ḵarṭūš)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 卡圖什, 卡图什 (kǎtúshí)

• Czech: kartuše (cs) f, kartuš (cs)
• Danish: kartouche c
• Egyptian: (šnw m)
• Faroese: skreytramma f
• Finnish: kartussi (fi)
• French: cartouche (fr) m

• German: Kartusche (de) f
• Hungarian: kartus (hu)
• Japanese: カルトゥーシュ (karutūshu)
• Russian: карту́ш (ru) m (kartúš)
• Slovak: kartuša f
• Spanish: cartucho (es) m
• Swedish: kartusch (sv), kartouche

paper cartridge

• Swedish: kardus (sv) (general-purpose container), kartesch (sv) (specific for artillery cartridges)

a box with ammunition

• Russian: патро́нный я́щик m (patrónnyj jáščik)

a gunner's bag

• Russian: патронта́ш (ru) m (patrontáš), патро́нная су́мка f (patrónnaja súmka), ляду́нка (ru) f (ljadúnka)

See also

• (Egyptian hieroglyphs): serekh

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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cartuccia, a diminutive of carta, from Latin charta, from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs)

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

cartouche m (plural cartouches)

1. cartouche (ornamental figure)
2. cartouche (Egyptian hieroglyphic of name)
3. title block (technical drawing)

Noun

cartouche f (plural cartouches)

1. cartridge

Derived terms

• encartoucher

Descendants

• Arabic: خَرْطُوش‎ (ḵarṭūš)
• Czech: kartuš
• Danish: kartouche
• English: cartouche
• → German: Kartusche
• Japanese: カルトゥーシュ
• Ottoman Turkish: خرتوج‎
  • Turkish: hartuç
• Polish: kartusz
• Romanian: cartuș
• Russian: карту́ш (kartúš)
• Swedish: kartusch

Further reading

• “cartouche” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).