altar

Forms

altar m (plural altares)^[1] Houaiss records the spelling alltar in 1499.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin altāre (“altar”), written Old Galician-Portuguese altar in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Nascentes considers it a learned word.^[5] Machado notes that classical authors mostly used the plural, and that Church Latin made the singular general.^[4] The Latin word is derived from altus (“high”).^[2][3] Wiktionary suggests a formation with the suffix -ālis, its ⟨l⟩ dissimilated after the ⟨l⟩ of the root.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician altar, Spanish altar, Catalan altar, Occitan autar, French autel and Italian altare.^[6][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cantigas de Santa Maria a letter is handed over ant'o altar “before the altar”, and the altar mayor is the high altar of a church.^[8] The Crónica Troiana uses ante o altar mayor of a pagan temple.^[8] Machado's earliest quotation is from the 14th century: destroy o altar do ydolo “he destroys the idol's altar”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has always covered both the altar of sacrifice of the ancient religions and the Christian altar of the Mass.^[8][2] Morais in 1789 has the pé de altar, the fees paid to a parish priest for Masses and sacraments, and the figurative o Altar “holy things, religion”.^[9][10] Freemasonry took it for the table of the Worshipful Master.^[2][11] In Portugal informal speech uses it for a dining table, a baker's basket and a woman's breast;^[2][12] Silva Bastos records the breast sense from Oliveira de Azeméis.^[2][12] It is also the name of a southern constellation.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 13th century – first records, among them ant'o altar in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[2][3][8]
• 14th century – destroy o altar do ydolo.^[4]
• c. 1430 – the word in the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437).^[15]
• 1499 – the spelling alltar.^[2]
• 1569 – Cardoso glosses Altar with Latin āra and the Latin word.^[16]
• 1789 – Morais records o pé de altar.^[9]
• 1899 – Figueiredo records the slang sense “dining table”.^[17]

Meanings

Noun

1. (religion) A raised structure on which priests of various religions offer sacrifices; ara.^[2][11][1]
2. (Christianity) The consecrated table, usually with a retábulo, at which missa is celebrated.^[2][13]
3. (Freemasonry) The table, usually triangular, at which the Worshipful Master and other officers sit.^[2][11]
4. (figurative) Religion, worship.^[2][18]
5. (figurative) Fervent love, adoração; an object of veneration.^[2][18]
6. (Portugal) A dining table.^[2][17]
7. (Portugal, informal) A baker's basket.^[2]
8. (Portugal, informal) A woman's breast.^[2][12]
9. (astronomy, rare) The southern constellation Ara.^[2][13][1]

Word family

• altar-mor

Related words

• alto
• outeiro
• Latin altāre
• Spanish altar

Usage notes

Levar alguém ao altar means to marry someone.^[2] The main altar of a church is the altar-mor.^[19]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 r s Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. altar
3. ^ a b c Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. altar
4. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. altar
5. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. altar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 381
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. altare
8. ^ a b c d Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. altar
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 66
10. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 106
11. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. altar
12. ^ a b c Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. altar
13. ^ a b c Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. altar
14. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. s.v. altar
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. altar
16. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. altar
17. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. altar
18. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. altar
19. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 509