chancel

Forms

chancel m (plural chancels)^[1] Variants chanceau and cancel;^[2][3] Middle French chanseau (about 1389).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chancel, inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin cancellus (“grating, lattice before the altar”),^[2][4][5] which in Christian Latin meant the lattice before the altar of burnt offerings and then the balustrade between the choir and the nave.^[2][4] Classical Latin used it mostly in the plural cancellī (“railing”).^[2][4] Rey derives it from cancrī (“bars, lattice”), which it replaced as a diminutive.^[4]

Hatzfeld and Darmesteter explained the modern spelling as a compromise between the learned cancel and the popular chanceau.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Couronnement de Louis (1130–1160), meaning the railing or grille that closes off the sanctuary or choir of a church.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word came to mean the part of the choir around the high altar that the grille shuts off, and each bar of such a grille.^[2][4] By analogy it named the railed enclosure where the seal of the State was kept, a sense the DHLF dates to 1740 and the TLFi to Bescherelle in 1845.^[4][2]

The Académie entered the word as cancel from 1718 to 1878, noting that some people say chancel; the 19th-century Larousse judged chancel dated.^[2] English borrowed it from Old French about 1300 for the space around the altar.^[6]

Timeline

• 1130–1160 – The Couronnement de Louis uses chancel for a church railing.^[2]
• c. 1300 – English borrows the word.^[6]
• c. 1389 – The form chanseau appears in the Songe du vieil pèlerin.^[2]
• 1718 – The Académie enters cancel, noting that some say chancel.^[2]
• 1740 – First used for the enclosure of the State seal.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (architecture) A railing or grille of metal, stone or wood around the choir or sanctuary of a church.^[2][7][5]
2. By extension, the part of the choir around the high altar enclosed by such a railing.^[2][1]
3. Each bar of such a grille.^[2]
4. (history) A railed enclosure where the seal of the State was kept.^[2][4][3]

Related words

• cancel
• chanceler
• chancelier
• English chancel

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert