Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Altar

Al′tar

Noun.

[OE.

alter

auter

autier

, fr. L.

altare

, pl.

altaria

, altar, prob. fr.

altus

high: cf. OF.

alter

autier

, F.

autel

. Cf.

Altitude

A raised structure (as a square or oblong erection of stone or wood) on which sacrifices are offered or incense burned to a deity.

Noah builded an

altar

unto the Lord.

Gen. viii. 20.

In the Christian church, a construction of stone, wood, or other material for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist; the communion table.

☞ Altar is much used adjectively, or as the first part of a compound; as, altar bread or altar-bread.

Altar cloth

Altar-cloth

the cover for an altar in a Christian church, usually richly embroidered.

–

Altar cushion

a cushion laid upon the altar in a Christian church to support the service book.

–

Altar frontal

See

Frontal

–

Altar rail

the railing in front of the altar or communion table.

–

Altar screen

a wall or partition built behind an altar to protect it from approach in the rear.

–

Altar tomb

a tomb resembling an altar in shape, etc.

–

Family altar

place of family devotions.

–

To lead (as a bride) to the altar

to marry; – said of a woman.

Webster 1828 Edition

Altar

AL'TAR

Noun.

[L. altare, probably from the same root as altus, high.

A mount; a table or elevated place, on which sacrifices where anciently offered to some deity. Altars were originally made of turf, afterwards of stone, wood or horn; some were round, others square, others triangular. They differed also in height, but all faced the east. The principal altars of the Jews were, the altar of incense, of burnt-offerings, and of shewbread; all of shittim wood, and covered with gold or brass.

In modern churches, the communion table; and, figuratively, a church; a place of worship.

In scripture, Christ is called the altar of Christians, he being the atoning sacrifice for sin.

We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat, who serve tabernacles. Heb. 13.

Definition 2024

Altar

See also: altar, áltár, and ältar

German

Noun

Altar m ‎(genitive Altars or Altares, plural Altäre, diminutive Altärchen n)

(religion, including Christianity) altar (table or similar structure used for religious rites)

Declension

Declension of Altar

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Altar	die	Altäre
genitive	eines	des	Altares, Altars	der	Altäre
dative	einem	dem	Altar, Altare¹	den	Altären
accusative	einen	den	Altar	die	Altäre

¹Now uncommon, see notes

Derived terms

Altardiener
Altardienst

Hochaltar
Zwölfbotenaltar

Portuguese

Proper noun

Altar m

(astronomy) Ara (a constellation of the southern sky)

Romanian

Altar

Proper noun

Altar

Ara (constellation)

This Romanian entry was created from the translations listed at Ara. It may be less reliable than other entries, and may be missing parts of speech or additional senses. Please also see Altar in the Romanian Wiktionary. This notice will be removed when the entry is checked. (more information) February 2010

altar

See also: Altar, áltár, and ältar

English

Noun

altar ‎(plural altars)

A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
(informal) A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.

Derived terms

Translations

flat-topped structure used for religious rites

Afrikaans: altaar
Albanian: altar (sq) m
Amharic: መሠውያ ‎(mäśäwya)
Arabic: مَذْبَح m ‎(maḏbaḥ), هَيْكَل m ‎(haykal)
Armenian: սեղան (hy) ‎(sełan), խորան (hy) ‎(xoran)
Azeri: qurbangah, səcdəgah
Basque: aldare
Belarusian: алта́р m ‎(altár)
Bengali: পূজাবেদি ‎(pujabedi), বেদি ‎(bedi)
Breton: aoter (br) f
Bulgarian: олта́р (bg) m ‎(oltár)
Burmese: ယဇ်ပလ္လင် (my) ‎(yajpallang)
Catalan: altar m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 祭壇 (zh), 祭坛 (zh) ‎(jìtán), 聖壇, 圣坛 ‎(shèngtán)
Chuukese: antare
Czech: oltář (cs) m
Dalmatian: altur
Danish: alter (da) n
Dutch: altaar (nl) n
Esperanto: altaro (eo)
Estonian: altar (et)
Ewe: vɔsamlekpui n
Faroese: altar n
Finnish: alttari (fi)
French: autel (fr) m
Galician: altar (gl) m
Georgian: საკურთხეველი ‎(saḳurtxeveli)
German: Altar (de) m
Greek: βωμός (el) m ‎(vomós), Αγία Τράπεζα f ‎(Agía Trápeza) (Christian), θυσιαστήριο (el) n ‎(thysiastírio)
Ancient: θυσιαστήριον n ‎(thusiastḗrion)
Gujarati: યજ્ઞવેદી ‎(chahāvedī)
Hebrew: מזבח (he) m ‎(mizbe'akh)
Hindi: वेदी (hi) ‎(vēdī)
Hungarian: oltár (hu)
Icelandic: altari (is) n
Ido: altaro (io)
Indonesian: altar (id)
Irish: altóir f
Italian: altare (it) m
Japanese: 祭壇 ‎(さいだん, saidan)
Kalmyk: мандл ‎(mandl)
Kannada: ಬಲಿಪೀಠ (kn) ‎(balipīṭha), ಯಜ್ಞವೇದಿಕೆ (kn) ‎(yajñavēdike)
Kazakh: мехраб ‎(mexrab), алтарь ‎(altarʹ)
Khmer: បុចនីយដ្ឋាន ‎(bŏchniydthan), អាសន ‎(qasnô)
Korean: 제단 (ko) ‎(jedan) (祭壇 (ko))

Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: text (ku), mezheb (ku), սեղան ‎(sełan)
Lao: ຫີ້ງບູຊາ ‎(hīng bū sā), ຮ້ານບູຊາ ‎(hān bū sā)
Latin: altare n, ara (la)
Latvian: altāris (lv) m
Lithuanian: aukuras m
Luxembourgish: Altor
Macedonian: олтар m ‎(oltar), жртвеник m ‎(žrtvenik)
Malay: mazbah
Malayalam: അൾത്താര (ml) ‎(aḷttāra)
Maltese: artal m
Maori: āta (Christian), tūāhu (pagan)
Marathi: वेदी ‎(vedī)
Mongolian: тахилын ширээ ‎(tahilyn širee)
Nepali: वेदी ‎(wedī)
Norman: autel m
Norwegian:

Bokmål: alter (no) n

Nynorsk: altar (no) n, alter (no) n
Old English: weofod n
Old Norse: altari
Old Saxon: altari
Persian: محراب (fa) ‎(mehrâb), مذبح (fa) ‎(mazbah)
Polish: ołtarz (pl) m
Portuguese: altar (pt)
Punjabi: ਬੇਦੀ f ‎(bedī), ਪੀਠ m ‎(pīṭh)
Romanian: altar (ro) n
Russian: алта́рь (ru) m ‎(altárʹ), же́ртвенник (ru) m ‎(žértvennik)
Scottish Gaelic: altair f
Serbo-Croatian:

Cyrillic: жртвеник m, олтар m

Roman: žrtvenik (sh) m, oltar (sh) m
Sinhalese: පූජාසනය ‎(pūjāsanaya)
Slovak: oltár m
Slovene: oltar (sl) m
Spanish: altar (es) m
Swahili: altare
Swedish: altare (sv) n
Tagalog: dambana (tl)
Tamil: பலிபீடம் (ta) ‎(palipīṭam)
Telugu: బలిపీఠము (te) ‎(balipīṭhamu)
Thai: แท่นบูชา ‎(taen-boo-châa)
Tibetan: མཆོད་ཤོམས། ‎(mchod shoms)
Turkish: sunak (tr), mihrap (tr)
Ukrainian: вівта́р (uk) m ‎(vivtár)
Urdu: قربان گاہ m ‎(qurban gaah)
Vietnamese: bàn thờ (vi)
Welsh: allor f
West Frisian: alter

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

Noun

altar m ‎(plural altars)

altar

Cimbrian

Noun

altar m ‎(plural [please provide])

altar

References

“altar” in Umberto Martello Martalar, Alfonso Bellotto, Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Setti Communi vicentini, 1st edition, 1974.

Faroese

Etymology

From Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, from Latin altare ‎(“altar”), cognates with Danish alter ‎(“altar”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈal̥.taɹ/

Noun

altar n (genitive singular altars, plural altar)

altar

Declension

n3	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	altar	altarið	altar	altarini
Accusative	altar	altarið	altar	altarini
Dative	altari	altarinum	altarum	altarunum
Genitive	altars	altarsins	altara	altaranna

Galician

Noun

altar m ‎(plural altares)

altar

Synonyms

Indonesian

Etymology

From Latin altāre, through Dutch altaar.

Noun

altar

altar

Irish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈal̪ˠt̪ˠəɾˠ]

Verb

altar

present indicative autonomous of alt
imperative autonomous of alt
present subjunctive autonomous of alt

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
altar	n-altar	haltar	t-altar
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Latin

Etymology

Found mainly in post-Classical Latin. In Classical Latin, used mostly in plural form altaria. Ultimately from adolere and influenced by altus. See also other forms altāre and altārium.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈal.tar/, [ˈaɫ.tar]

Noun

altar n ‎(genitive altāris); third declension

altar (for burnt offerings)

Inflection

Third declension neuter “pure” i-stem.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	altar	altāria
genitive	altāris	altārium
dative	altārī	altāribus
accusative	altar	altāria
ablative	altārī	altāribus
vocative	altar	altāria

Descendants

Romanian: altar
Russian: алта́рь m ‎(altárʹ)

References

altar in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
altar in The Perseus Project (1999) Perseus Encyclopedia

Manx

Noun

altar m ‎(plural altaryn)

(religion) altar

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

alter

Noun

altar n ‎(definite singular altaret, indefinite plural altar, definite plural altara)

an altar

Etymology 2

Noun

altar m

indefinite plural of alt

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *aldrą, whence also Old English ealdor, Old Norse aldr.

Noun

altar n

Descendants

German: Alter

Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin altāre ‎(“altar for burnt offerings”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /al.ˈtaɾ/

Noun

altar m ‎(plural altares)

altar (flat structure used for religious rites)
- 13th century, attributed to Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, E codex, cantiga 7 (facsimile):
  Eſta e como ſanta Maria liurou a Abadeſſa prenne q̇ adormecera anto ſeu Altar chorando.
  This one is about how Holy Mary acquitted the pregnant abbess who had fallen asleep crying in front of her altar.

Descendants

Galician: altar
Portuguese: altar

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Portuguese altar, from Latin altāre ‎(“altar for burnt offerings”).

Pronunciation

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /aɫ.ˈtaɾ/
(Paulista) IPA^(key): /aw.ˈtaɾ/, /aw.ˈtaɹ/
(South Brazil) IPA^(key): /aw.ˈtaɾ/, /aw.ˈtaɻ/

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

altar (flat structure used for religious rites)

Romanian

Alternative forms

altariu (dated, rare)

Etymology

From Latin altārium or altār, with the plural deriving from altāria. Compare oltar, a rare and dated variant which derives from the same source via a Slavic intermediary.

Noun

altar n ‎(plural altare)

Synonyms

(altar): pristol
(sanctuary): sanctuar

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin altāre.

Noun

altar m ‎(plural altares)

altar
Stone that separates the firebox from the hearth in reverberatory furnaces