Roodbeam

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A structural element in a building, typically a horizontal beam that supports the roof and intersecting with vertical elements
2. A crossbeam found in architecture that serves as a support for the roof structure and connects rafters
3. An architectural beam that runs horizontally, usually forming part of a roof support system in a building

Etymology: Rood originally meant a pole or post, and in Old English it came to mean the cross on which Christ was crucified. A rood-beam was the timber spanning the top of a church's chancel arch to carry the rood, a crucifix often flanked by figures of Mary and John. Its first element names a religious image, not a roof. The second element, beam, once meant a tree or a piece of wood before it came to mean a length of timber. The compound therefore joins "cross" and "wood," a beam bearing a cross. The sense given here, a horizontal roof beam, is looser, since the beam was defined chiefly by its sacred load rather than by its position under a roof.