Lectury

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for a reading desk or stand on which a book, such as a Bible, is placed for reading aloud in a church
2. A sloped reading stand used in churches to hold the lesson book during the service, now an old-fashioned word
3. An obsolete name for the lectern, the raised desk from which scripture passages were read to a congregation

Etymology: "Lectury" is an older variant of "lectory," a word for the reading desk from which scripture was read in a church. It comes from Medieval Latin "lectorium," a place of reading, built on Latin "legere," "to read," which also gave English "lecture" and "lector." The word was in use in English by the late Middle Ages, when such desks were a standard church fixture, and it was later largely replaced by "lectern." The more surprising relative is "lectern" itself. It likely descends from Late Latin "lectrum," which meant a couch or bed, perhaps because early reading stands were shaped like a couch or bed to hold a book open. So the same piece of church furniture has two names with different origins: one grows from the act of reading, the other from something to lie on.