Roodscreen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A decorative partition typically found in churches, separating the chancel from the nave for liturgical purposes
2. An ornate structure that serves both functional and aesthetic roles in medieval architecture
3. A screen adorned with religious imagery, often employed to enhance the spiritual atmosphere within a worship space

Etymology: A roodscreen is a compound of two plain English words, "rood" and "screen," and the first one is the more interesting. "Rood" comes from Old English "rōd," meaning a pole or cross, and by the Anglo-Saxon period it had come to mean specifically the crucifix, the image of Christ on the cross. Medieval churches often stood a large crucifix above the screen separating the nave from the chancel, and the partition took its name from that figure. The "screen" part is ordinary: it came into English from Old French "escren," meaning a shelter or protective barrier, and later took on the sense of a partition in architecture. So the whole word means, literally, a screen bearing the rood. Many roodscreens survive in English parish churches, most of them dating from the 14th and 15th centuries, when they were carved in wood and often painted. Many were damaged or removed during the Reformation and later Victorian restorations, which is why the surviving examples are prized.

Synonyms: screen, partition, divider, barrier, separation