Catafalque

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkatəfalk/

Definitions

1. A detailed decorative platform intended to hold a casket during funeral rites provides a focal point for mourning attendees while displaying the deceased with dignity
2. An elevated structure adorned for placing a coffin during memorial services to honor the deceased
3. A stylized platform designed to support a casket during ceremonies commemorating someone who has died

Etymology: The word's core is a Greek preposition attached to an Etruscan building term. Ancient Greek "katá" meant "down", and Latin borrowed the Etruscan "fala" for a wooden scaffolding or siege tower. Joined in Vulgar Latin as "catafalicum", the combination produced a word for a raised structure set low, a platform built over something, which is exactly the shape of the object it names today. In Italian the form became "catafalco", a temporary wooden stage erected for funeral rites, where a coffin could be displayed above the mourners. French took it up as "catafalque", and English borrowed the French form. The Italian term was then influenced by "scaffold", an English-looking word that shares the same Latin-Etruscan ancestry, which helped steady the word's sense of a raised platform.

Synonyms: bier, platform, tomb