Baldachin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A decorative canopy typically held aloft by pillars that serves to signify importance or sanctity in specific locations such as altars or thrones
2. This architectural element, elevated by supports, provides a visually striking covering that enhances the significance of a place of worship or authority
3. A ceremonial covering held up by columns that denotes reverence or status in spaces like churches and royal settings

Etymology: A baldachin is a canopy of rich fabric held up over a throne, altar, bed or doorway, and its name points to a city on the other side of the world from where English speakers first saw such cloth. The material was a costly silk brocade, woven in Baghdad and known in Italian as "Baldacca", a variant form of that city's name. Italian speakers turned it into "baldacchino", a word for the silk and then for the canopy the silk made. The word travelled into English through French, which borrowed Italian "baldacchino" as "baldaquin". English then took the word from French, and the spelling "baldachin" is the form that has settled in English alongside the Italian-influenced "baldacchin". The shift from a bolt of luxury cloth to a structure built to hang over a sacred or royal place shows how a textile name can outlast the fabric itself.

Synonyms: canopy, pavilion, awning, marquee, cover