altar

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word altar. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word altar, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say altar in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word altar you have here. The definition of the word altar will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofaltar, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Altar, áltár, and ältar

English

An altar in a monastery in Brandenburg, Germany

Etymology

From Middle English alter, from Old English alter, taken from Latin altare (“altar”), probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (“high”). Displaced native Old English wēofod.

Pronunciation

Noun

altar (plural altars)

  1. A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
    • c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 9–14:
      To hawke, or els to hunt
      From the auter to the funt,
      Wyth cry unreverent,
      Before the sacrament,
      Wythin the holy church bowndis,
      That of our fayth the grownd is.
  2. (informal) A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.
  3. (figurative) Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.
    • 2000, Alain Renaut, M. B. De Bevoise, Era of the Individual: A Contribution to a History of Subjectivity:
      […] now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → Maori: āta

Translations

Anagrams

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

Noun

altar m (plural altars)

  1. altar

References

  • “altar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish altar.

Noun

altár

  1. altar

Cimbrian

Etymology

From Middle High German alter, altære, from Old High German altāri, from Latin altāre. Cognate with German Altar.

Noun

altar m (uncountable)

  1. (Sette Comuni) altar

References

  • “altar” in Martalar, Umberto Martello, Bellotto, Alfonso (1974) Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Estonian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

Noun

altar (genitive , partitive )

  1. altar

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

  • “altar”, in Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
  • “altar”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
  • altar in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, from Latin altare (“altar”), cognate with Danish alter (“altar”).

Pronunciation

Noun

altar n (genitive singular altars, plural altar)

  1. altar

Declension

Declension of altar
n3 singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative altar altarið altar altarini
accusative altar altarið altar altarini
dative altari altarinum altarum altarunum
genitive altars altarsins altara altaranna

Galician

altar, church of Saint Mary, Melide, Galicia.

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese altar (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar
    Synonym: ara
    • 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 660:
      et talloulle a cabeça dentro ẽno tẽplo, ante o altar.
      and he cut his head inside, in the temple, before the altar.

Derived terms

References

  • “altar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
  • “altar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
  • “altar” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch altaar, from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

Noun

altar (first-person possessive altarku, second-person possessive altarmu, third-person possessive altarnya)

  1. altar
    Synonym: mazbah

Further reading

Irish

Pronunciation

Verb

altar

  1. present indicative autonomous of alt
  2. imperative autonomous of alt
  3. present subjunctive autonomous of alt

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Eclipsis with h-prothesis with t-prothesis
altar n-altar haltar not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Latin

Pronunciation

Noun

altar n (genitive altāris); third declension

  1. Alternative form of altāre

Usage notes

In pre-Classical and Classical Latin, this noun only occurs in the plural as a plurale tantum.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative altar altāria
Genitive altāris altārium
Dative altārī altāribus
Accusative altar altāria
Ablative altārī altāribus
Vocative altar altāria

Descendants

See altāre.

References

  • “altar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “altar”, in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia‎

Lombard

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /alˈtɑːr/ (Milanese)

Noun

altar m (plural altar)

  1. altar

Manx

Noun

altar m (plural altaryn)

  1. (religion) altar

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

altar n

  1. form removed by a 1984 spelling decision; superseded by alter

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nn

Etymology 1

From late Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, itself taken from Latin altāre (“altar”).

Alternative forms

Noun

altar n (definite singular altaret, indefinite plural altar, definite plural altara)

  1. an altar

Etymology 2

Noun

altar m

  1. indefinite plural of alt

References

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin altāre (“altar for burnt offerings”). Cf. also outeiro.

Pronunciation

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar (flat structure used for religious rites)

Descendants

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *aldrą, whence also Old English ealdor, Old Norse aldr.

Noun

altar n

  1. age

Derived terms

Descendants

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese altar, from Latin altāre (“altar for burnt offerings”). Cf. also Portuguese outeiro.

Pronunciation

 
 

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar (flat structure used for religious rites)

Romanian

Alternative forms

Etymology

Inherited from Latin altārium or altār, with the plural deriving from altāria. Compare oltar, a rare and dated variant which derives from the same source via a Slavic intermediary.

Pronunciation

Noun

altar n (plural altare)

  1. altar
    Synonym: pristol
  2. communion table
  3. chancel
  4. shrine, sanctuary
    Synonym: sanctuar

Declension

Declension of altar
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) altar altarul (niște) altare altarele
genitive/dative (unui) altar altarului (unor) altare altarelor
vocative altarule altarelor

Further reading

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish altar (attested as far back as the Cantar de Mio Cid), from Latin altāre. See also otero.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /alˈtaɾ/
  • Audio (Colombia):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɾ
  • Syllabification: al‧tar

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

  1. altar (a table used for religious rites)
  2. stone that separates the firebox from the hearth in reverberatory furnaces

Derived terms

Descendants

References

  1. ^ Joan Coromines, José A. Pascual (1983–1991) Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Further reading

Tagalog

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish altar, from Latin altāre. Doublet of alta.

Pronunciation

Noun

altár (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜎ᜔ᜆᜇ᜔)

  1. altar (a table used for religious rites)
    Synonyms: dalanginan, dambana, alta

Further reading

  • “altar”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia