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reredos
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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English
Alternative forms
- raredos, reredosse
Etymology
From Middle English reredos, from Anglo-Norman reredos, areredos; equivalent to rere (“rear”) + French dos (“back”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): (Received Pronunciation) /ˈɹiə.dɒs/, /ˈɹiɹɪdɒs/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Noun
reredos (plural reredoses)
- (chiefly Western Christianity) A screen or decoration behind the altar in a church, usually depicting religious iconography or images, akin to the iconostasis of the Eastern Churches.
- Synonym: retable
- Coordinate term: iconostasis
- 1871, The Sacristy: A Quarterly Review of Ecclesiastical Art and Literature, volume 1, London: John Hodges, page 246:
- A bad reredos will ruin the best church ever designed; and, although a good reredos cannot convert a bad church into a good one, it may do much to lessen the offensiveness of its badness.
- 1998, Paul V. M. Flesher, “Rereading the Reredos: David, Orpheus, and Messianism in the Dura Europa Syngogue”, in Dān Ûrman, Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher, editors, Ancient Synagogues: Historical Analysis and Archaeological Discovery, page 363:
- Confusion has reigned in scholarly interpretation, however, because the dark-colored leaves have shown through the succeeding coats of paint across the reredos, interfering with the later scenes.
- 2007, F. E. Howard, English Church Woodwork, page 137:
- There seem to be no remains of wooden reredoses of the fourteenth century, though there are a number of examples in stone.
- The back of an open fire-hearth, in medieval halls.
Translations
screen or decoration behind the altar in a church — see retable
Further reading
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Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Anglo-Norman reredos, areredos; equivalent to rere (“rear, following”) + Old French dos (“back”).
Pronunciation
Noun
reredos (plural reredosis)
- A reredos or retable; a panel at the back of an altar.
- A dorsal; a hanging or tapestry at the back of an altar.
- (rare) The back of a fireplace or hearth.
- (rare) A wood screen against the back of a chair or wall.
- (rare) A panel of armour for protecting the rear.
- (rare) The rearguard of an army.
Descendants
- English: reredos
References
- “rēre-dō̆s(e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 11 August 2018.
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