Chauntry

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An endowed chapel or altar where a priest was paid to sing masses for the souls of the deceased
2. A foundation or church establishment maintained to support a clergyman who would perform commemorative masses for the dead
3. An ecclesiastical provision granting a priest income to chant or say masses on behalf of deceased benefactors

Etymology: Few words hide a bargain as plainly as this one. A chantry was an endowed chapel or altar where priests were paid to sing masses for the soul of the person who funded it, so the singing itself was the thing being bought. The word comes from Old French "chanterie", a derivative of "chanter", "to sing", which goes back to Latin "cantare", the source of English "chant" and "cantor". Donors often left land or rents to keep these priests in place, sometimes for generations. The arrangement was so tied to the wealth of the founder that when the English crown seized these endowments under Edward VI during the Reformation, the chantries were dissolved, and the word came to refer mainly to a vanished institution.