altar

Forms

altar m (plural altares)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish altar, inherited from Latin altāre (“altar”).^[2][3][1] The Academy gives the Latin form as altar, altāris.^[4] Bénaben treats it as a word of Church Latin, which formed its singular from the classical plural altāria (“altar for burnt offerings”).^[5]

The same word is Portuguese altar, Galician altar, Catalan altar, Occitan autar, French autel and Italian altare.^[6][7] Old French first had alter, and the change to the modern French ending is unexplained.^[7][8]

In classical Latin the word was mostly plural and named the fire altar on which burnt offerings were made, often not distinct from ara.^[9] De Vaan derives it from a Proto-Italic participle *alto- (“fed”), and so connects it with adoleō (“to burn as an offering”), originally “to feed the fire”, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- (“to feed, nourish”); the suffix -ālis became -āris by dissimilation from the ⟨l⟩ of the root.^[10][1] The link with altus (“high”) is old but, according to the DHLF, not etymological.^[8] Covarrubias had explained the word as meaning a raised altar, and Cunha still derives the Portuguese word from the same adjective.^[11][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, known from a 14th-century copy) has the word in a prayer to the Gloriosa, the Virgin: mando al vuestro altar buenas donas e ricas “I promise your altar good and rich gifts”.^[13][14] The sense is the Christian altar on which the Mass is said.^[14] The first record in a text without a later copy is the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes (1218–c. 1250), where an oath is sworn on the altar.^[13]

Semantic evolution

Alfonso X's prose of 1250–1284 already used altar both for the pagan altar on which victims were sacrificed and for the Christian altar, and had a diminutive altarejo.^[15] The Diccionario de Autoridades (1726) gave three senses: a raised place for sacrifices in any religion, the table on which the priest says Mass, and the large decorated altars set up in churches and streets for feasts.^[16] Moliner adds the figurative sense “priesthood” and the phrases elevar a los altares “to canonise” and llevar al altar “to marry”.^[17] In metallurgy the word names the stone that separates the fireplace from the hearth of a reverberatory furnace.^[4][1]

In Chile altar was also used as a verb, “to raise”, which Alemany records and Román condemns as rustic.^[18][19] In the Dominican Republic a courting couple sitting close together is called an altar.^[20][21]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – altar in the Cantar de mio Cid, known from a 14th-century copy.^[13][14]
• 1218–c. 1250 – the Fuero de Zorita de los Canes has oaths sworn on the altar.^[13]
• 1250–1284 – Alfonso X uses the word for pagan and Christian altars, and the diminutive altarejo.^[15]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin altare and ara as its equivalents.^[22]
• 1525 – first record in the Americas, in Mexico City.^[23]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains the word as “quasi alta ara”.^[11]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines three senses.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. An altar: the consecrated table on which a priest celebrates Mass (misa).^[4][1]
2. The consecrated altar stone (ara) set into such a table.^[4]
3. The whole structure of a church altar, with its table, steps, altarpiece (retablo) and tabernacle (sagrario).^[4]
4. In other religions, a stone, raised structure or mound on which rites such as sacrifices and offerings are performed: Los antiguos quemaban incienso en un altar de piedra.^[4][17]
5. (figurative) The priesthood: Dedicó su vida al altar.^[17]
6. (engineering) The stone that separates the fireplace from the hearth in a reverberatory furnace.^[4][1]

Word family

• altar mayor

Related words

• alto
• otero
• ara
• Latin altāre
• Portuguese altar

Usage notes

Set phrases include altar mayor “high altar”, elevar a los altares “to canonise” and llevar al altar “to marry”.^[4][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 220
3. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. alto
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. altar
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. altar
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 461
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 381
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. autel
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. altāria
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. adoleō
11. ^ a b Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 156
12. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 196
13. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. altar
14. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. altar
15. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. altar
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 245
17. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. altar
18. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 99
19. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 46
20. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. altar
21. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. altar
22. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. altar
23. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. altar