Etymology

catafalque

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Today it means: A platform used to display or convey a coffin during a funeral, often ornate. Full definition →

French catafalque ← Italian catafalco ← Vulgar Latin [Term?]?
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱe?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm
  3. Proto-Indo-European*ḱm̥-th₂der.?
  4. Proto-Hellenic*kətá
  5. Ancient Greekκᾰτᾰ́ (kătắ)
  6. Etruscan𐌚𐌀𐌋𐌀 (fala)
  7. Latinfala
  8. Vulgar Latin[Term?]?
  9. Italiancatafalco
  10. Frenchcatafalque
  11. English todaycatafalque

Borrowed from French catafalque, from Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, from Ancient Greek κατά (katá, “down”) + Latin fala (“scaffolding, wooden siege tower”), which is from Etruscan. Also influenced scaffold.

Words from the same roots

Italiancatafalco all →

catafalco

Ancient Greekκατά all →

katacatacombcata-catachronismcataglottismcataplerosiskata thermometerkatelectrotonus

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.