ciborium

English

A ciborium (canopy)

A ciborium (receptacle)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin cibōrium (“drinking-cup”), from Ancient Greek κιβώριον (kibṓrion, “the Egyptian water-lily’s cupulate seed pod”, or “a drinking-cup fashioned therefrom”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈbɔəɹɪəm/

Noun

ciborium (plural ciboriums or ciboria)

1. A fixed vaulted canopy over a Christian altar, supported on four columns.
2. A covered receptacle for holding the consecrated wafers of the Eucharist.
   • 1982, John Banville, The Newton Letter:

     Michael came after her, solemnly bearing the teapot like a ciborium.

Translations

A fixed vaulted canopy

• French: ciborium (fr) m
• German: Ziborium (de) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: cibório (pt) m

A covered receptacle

• French: ciboire (fr) m
• German: Ziborium (de) n
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: cuach abhlann m, cuach altóra m
• Welsh: afrllatgist f

Further reading

• ciborium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Latin

Alternative forms

• cibōria, cibōreum, cybōrium, cybōreum (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek κιβώριον (kibṓrion).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kiˈboː.ri.um/, [kɪˈboːriʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃiˈbo.ri.um/, [t͡ʃiˈbɔːrium]

Noun

cibōrium n (genitive cibōriī or cibōrī); second declension

1. the seedvessel of sacred lotus which served as a drinking vessel with the Egyptians
2. by extension, any drinking vessel approximating the shape of the seedcase of the sacred lotus
   • 23 BCE – 13 BCE, Horace, Odes II.7.21–23:

     Oblivioso levia Massico
     ciboria exple, funde capacibus
     unguenta de conchis!

     Fill the light goblets with wine from the Massicus that wreaks forgetfulness, slop salves from big shells!

3. (Medieval Latin) a vaulted canopy over a Christian altar fixed on four columns

   Synonyms: umbrāculum, tegumen

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cibōrium	cibōria
Genitive	cibōriī cibōrī1	cibōriōrum
Dative	cibōriō	cibōriīs
Accusative	cibōrium	cibōria
Ablative	cibōriō	cibōriīs
Vocative	cibōrium	cibōria

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

References

• “ciborium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• ciborium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• ciborium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Ernout, Alfred, Meillet, Antoine (1985) “ciborium”, in Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue latine: histoire des mots‎^[1] (in French), 4th edition, with additions and corrections of Jacques André, Paris: Klincksieck, published 2001