altar

See also: Altar, áltár, and ältar

Languages (21)

Albanian • Catalan • Chavacano • Cimbrian • Estonian • Faroese • Galician • Indonesian • Irish • Latin • Lombard • Manx • Norwegian Bokmål • Norwegian Nynorsk • Old Galician-Portuguese • Old High German • Portuguese • Romanian • Spanish • Tagalog

Page categories

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English auter, inherited from Old English altar and borrowed from Old French auter, both derived from Latin altāre,^[1] probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (“high”). Displaced native Middle English wēved.

Pronunciation

enPR: ôl′tər^[1]
(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒl.tə/, /ˈɔːl.tə/
(Standard Southern British) IPA^(key): /ˈɔl.tə/, /ˈoːl.tə/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔl.tɚ/
(cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑl.tɚ/
Audio (US): (file)
(Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈɔl.təɾ/
Rhymes: -ɒltə(ɹ), -ɔːltə(ɹ)
Homophone: alter
Hyphenation: al‧tar^[1]

Noun

altar (plural altars)

A table or similar flat-topped structure used for religious rites.
- c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 62, lines 9–14:
  To hawke, or els to hunt
  From the auter to the funt,
  Wyth cry unreverent,
  Before the sacrament,
  Wythin the holy church bowndis,
  That of our fayth the grownd is.
- 1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 228:
  Wax models of the pudenda of both sexes were regularly placed before the altar.
(informal) A raised area around an altar in a church; the sanctuary.
(figurative) Any (real or notional) place where something is worshipped or sacrificed to.
- 2000, Alain Renaut, M. B. De Bevoise, “Hegel and Nietzsche”, in Era of the Individual: A Contribution to a History of Subjectivity‎^[2], Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 129, lines 19–25:
  […] now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality.

Derived terms

Descendants

Tok Pisin: alta
→ Māori: āta

Translations

flat-topped structure used for religious rites

Afrikaans: altaar (af)
Albanian: ilter m, altar (sq) m, therore (sq) f
Amharic: መሠውያ (mäśäwya)
Arabic: مَذْبَح m (maḏbaḥ), هَيْكَل m (haykal), مِحْرَاب m (miḥrāb)
Aramaic:
Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܲܕ݂ܒܚܵܐ m (maḏbḥā), ܩܲܢܟܹܐ f (qankē), ܬܪܘܿܢܘܿܣ m (trōnōs)

Classical Syriac: ܡܕܒܚܐ m (maḏbəḥā), ܥܠܬܐ f (ʿəlāṯā), ܬܪܘܢܘܣ c (tərōnōs)

Jewish Babylonian Aramaic: מַדְבְּחָא m (maḏbəḥā)
Armenian: սեղան (hy) (seġan), խորան (hy) (xoran), բագին (hy) (bagin) (pagan)
Azerbaijani: mehrab (az), qurbangah, səcdəgah
Basque: aldare
Belarusian: алта́р m (altár)
Bengali: পূজাবেদি (bn) (pujabedi), বেদি (bn) (bedi)
Bidayuh:
Biatah Bidayuh: panggoo bisadis
Breton: aoter (br) f
Bulgarian: олтар (bg) m (oltar), жертвеник (bg) m (žertvenik)
Burmese: ယဇ် ပလ္လင် (my) (yaj pallang)
Carpathian Rusyn: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: altar (ca) m
Chavacano: altar
Chinese:
Mandarin: 祭壇 / 祭坛 (zh) (jìtán), 聖壇 / 圣坛 (shèngtán)
Chuukese: antare
Cimbrian: altar
Czech: oltář (cs) m
Dalmatian: altur
Danish: alter (da) n
Dutch: altaar (nl) n
Egyptian:

(ḫꜣwt)
Esperanto: altaro (eo)
Estonian: altar (et)
Ewe: vɔsamlekpui n
Faroese: altar n
Finnish: alttari (fi)
French: autel (fr) m
Frisian:
West Frisian: alter
Friulian: please add this translation if you can
Galician: altar (gl) m
Georgian: საკურთხეველი (saḳurtxeveli), სამსხვერპლო (samsxverṗlo)
German: Altar (de) m
Gothic: 𐌷𐌿𐌽𐍃𐌻𐌰𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌸𐍃 m (hunslastaþs)
Greek: βωμός (el) m (vomós), Αγία Τράπεζα (el) f (Agía Trápeza) (Christian), θυσιαστήριο (el) n (thysiastírio)
Ancient Greek: βωμός m (bōmós), θυσιαστήριον n (thusiastḗrion) (Christian or Jewish)
Gujarati: યજ્ઞવેદી (yajñavedī)
Hebrew: מִזְבֵּחַ (he) m (mizbéakh), בָּמָה (he) f (bamá)
Hindi: वेदी (hi) f (vedī)
Hittite: 𒅖𒋫𒈾𒈾𒀸 (iš-ta-na-na-aš)
Hungarian: oltár (hu)
Icelandic: altari (is) n
Ido: altaro (io)
Indonesian: altar (id), mezbah (id)
Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
Irish: altóir f
Italian: altare (it) m
Japanese: 祭壇 (ja) (さいだん, saidan)
Kalmyk: мандл (mandl)
Kannada: ಬಲಿಪೀಠ (kn) (balipīṭha), ಯಜ್ಞವೇದಿಕೆ (kn) (yajñavēdike)
Kashubian: please add this translation if you can
Kazakh: мехраб (mexrab), алтарь (altarʹ)
Khmer: បុចនីយដ្ឋាន (bocniiydthaan), អាសន (ʼasnô)
Korean: 제단(祭壇) (ko) (jedan)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: please add this translation if you can

Northern Kurdish: text (ku), mezheb (ku), sexan
Kyrgyz: алтарь (altar)
Lao: ຫີ້ງບູຊາ (hīng bū sā), ຮ້ານບູຊາ (hān bū sā)
Latin: ara (la) f, altāre n, altar n
Latvian: altāris (lv) m
Lithuanian: aukuras m, altorius (lt) m
Lombard: altar (lmo) m
Lutuv: tluophie
Luxembourgish: Altor (lb)
Macedonian: олтар m (oltar), жртвеник m (žrtvenik)
Malay: mazbah, mezbah
Malayalam: അൾത്താര (ml) (aḷttāra), മദ്ബഹാ (ml) (madbahā)
Maltese: artal m
Manx: altar m
Māori: āta (Christian), tūāhu (pagan)
Marathi: वेदी (vedī)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: тахилын ширээ (taxilyn širee)
Nepali: वेदी (vedī)
Norman: autel m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: alter (no) n (altar (no))

Nynorsk: altar (nn) n, alter (nn) n
Occitan: autar (oc) m
Old Church Slavonic: трѣбьникъ m (trěbĭnikŭ), олътарь m (olŭtarĭ) (Christian)
Old English: wēofod n
Old Galician-Portuguese: altar m
Old Norse: altari, stalli m
Old Saxon: altari
Pali: please add this translation if you can
Pannonian Rusyn: олтар m (oltar)
Persian: محراب (fa) (mehrâb), مذبح (fa) (mazbah)
Polish: ołtarz (pl) m inan
Portuguese: altar (pt) m
Punjabi: ਬੇਦੀ f (bedī), ਪੀਠ m (pīṭh)
Romanian: altar (ro) n
Russian: алта́рь (ru) m (altárʹ), же́ртвенник (ru) m (žértvennik)
Sanskrit: please add this translation if you can
Scottish Gaelic: altair f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: жртвеник m, олтар m

Latin: žrtvenik (sh) m, oltar (sh) m
Sinhalese: පූජාසනය (pūjāsanaya)
Slovak: oltár (sk) m
Slovene: oltar (sl) m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: please add this translation if you can

Upper Sorbian: please add this translation if you can
Spanish: altar (es) m, ara (es) f
Sranan Tongo: altari
Swahili: altare (sw), madhabahu (sw) class n
Swedish: altare (sv) n
Tagalog: dambana (tl), altar
Tajik: меҳроб (mehrob), мазбаҳ (mazbah)
Tamil: பலிபீடம் (ta) (palipīṭam)
Telugu: బలిపీఠము (te) (balipīṭhamu)
Thai: แท่นบูชา (th) (tɛ̂ɛn-buu-chaa)
Tibetan: མཆོད་ཤོམས (mchod shoms), མཆོད་སྟེགས (mchod stegs)
Turkish: sunak (tr), mihrap (tr)
Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎄𐎁𐎈 (mdbḥ)
Ukrainian: вівта́р (uk) m (vivtár)
Urdu: قربان گاہ m (qurban gāh)
Uyghur: please add this translation if you can
Uzbek: mehrob (uz), altar
Vietnamese: bàn thờ (vi)
Volapük: please add this translation if you can
Welsh: allor f

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 “altar”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.

Anagrams

artal, ratal, talar

Albanian

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /alˈtaɾ/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -aɾ
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altár m

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Declension

Declension of **altar**
	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	altar	altari	altarë	altarët
accusative	altar	altarin	altarë	altarët
dative	altari	altarit	altarëve	altarëve
ablative	altari	altarit	altarësh	altarëve

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central) [əlˈta]
IPA^(key): (Valencia) [alˈtaɾ]
IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [alˈta]^[1]
Audio (Catalonia): (file)
Rhymes: -a(ɾ)
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar m (plural altars)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

References

^ “altar”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish altar.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /alˈtaɾ/ [al.ˈtaɾ]
Rhymes: -aɾ, -taɾ
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altár

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Cimbrian

Etymology

From Middle High German alter, altære, from Old High German altāri, from Latin altāre. Cognate with German Altar.

Noun

altar m (uncountable)

(Sette Comuni) altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

References

“altar” in Martalar, Umberto Martello; Bellotto, Alfonso (1974), Dizionario della lingua Cimbra dei Sette Communi vicentini, 1st edition, Roana, Italy: Instituto di Cultura Cimbra A. Dal Pozzo

Estonian

Etymology

From Low German altar, ultimately from Latin altāre. First attested in 1535.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɑltɑr/, [ˈɑltɑr]

This entry needs an audio pronunciation. If you are a native speaker with a microphone, please record this word. The recorded pronunciation will appear here when it's ready.

Rhymes: -ɑltɑr
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar (genitive altari, partitive altarit)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
Synonym: altarilaud

Declension

Declension of altar (ÕS type 2e/minut, no gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		altar	altarid
accusative	nom.	altar
accusative	gen.	altari
genitive		altari	altarite
partitive		altarit	altareid
illative		altarisse	altaritesse altareisse
inessive		altaris	altarites altareis
elative		altarist	altaritest altareist
allative		altarile	altaritele altareile
adessive		altaril	altaritel altareil
ablative		altarilt	altaritelt altareilt
translative		altariks	altariteks altareiks
terminative		altarini	altariteni
essive		altarina	altaritena
abessive		altarita	altariteta
comitative		altariga	altaritega

Derived terms

phrases

Compounds

Faroese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈal̥.taɹ/
Rhymes: -al̥taɹ
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar n (genitive singular altars, plural altar)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Declension

n3	singular		plural
n3	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

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese altar (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria), from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /alˈtaɾ/ [ɑl̪ˈt̪aɾ]
Rhymes: -aɾ
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
Synonym: ara
- 1370, Ramón Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 660:
  […] et talloulle a cabeça dentro ẽno tẽplo, ante o altar.
  […] and he cut his head inside, in the temple, before the altar.

Derived terms

altar maior

References

Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “altar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “altar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “altar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Indonesian

Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch altaar, from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

(Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈaltar/ [ˈal.t̪ar]
Rhymes: -altar
Syllabification: al‧tar

Noun

altar (plural altar-altar)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
mazbah (sacrificial place)
(nautical term) a ladder on a ship's dock used to get up and down to and from the dock floor

Irish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈal̪ˠ.t̪ˠəɾˠ]

Verb

altar

Mutation

Mutated forms of *altar*
radical	eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
altar	n-altar	haltar	not applicable

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Latin

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈaɫ.tar]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈal.tar]
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar n (genitive altāris); third declension

alternative form of altāre (“altar”) (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Usage notes

In pre-Classical and Classical Latin, this noun only occurs in the plural as a plurale tantum.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, pure i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	altar	altāria
genitive	altāris	altārium
dative	altārī	altāribus
accusative	altar	altāria
ablative	altārī	altāribus
vocative	altar	altāria

Descendants

See altāre.

References

“altar”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“altar”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[4]

Lombard

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /alˈtɑːr/ (Milanese)
Rhymes: -ɑːr
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar m (plural altar)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Manx

Noun

altar m (plural altaryn)

(religion) altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

altar n

form removed by a 1984 spelling decision; superseded by alter: altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

altar

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Etymology 1

From late Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, itself taken from Latin altāre (“altar”).

Alternative forms

alter
altari (dialectal)

Noun

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

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

altar m

indefinite plural of alt

References

“altar” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /alˈtaɾ/
Rhymes: -aɾ
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
- a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, 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

Old High German

Etymology

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

Noun

altar n

age

Declension

Declension of **altar** (neuter a-stem)
case	singular	plural
nominative	altar	altar
accusative	altar	altar
genitive	altares	altaro
dative	altare	altarum
instrumental	altaru	—

Derived terms

gialtar

Descendants

Middle High German: alter
- Alemannic German: Altar
- Bavarian: Ålter, Oiter
- German: Alter, Alda, Alla
  - → Luxembourgish: Alter
- Yiddish: אַלטער (alter)

References

Köbler, Gerhard (2014), “altar”, in Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch‎^[5] (in German), 6th edition

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese altar, from Latin altāre (“altar for burnt offerings”). Cf. also Portuguese outeiro.

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /awˈtaʁ/ [aʊ̯ˈtah]
- (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /awˈtaɾ/ [aʊ̯ˈtaɾ]
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /awˈtaʁ/ [aʊ̯ˈtaχ]
- (Caipira) IPA^(key): /awˈtaɻ/ [aʊ̯ˈtaɻ]

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /alˈtaɾ/ [aɫˈtaɾ]
- (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /alˈta.ɾi/ [aɫˈta.ɾi]

Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)

Romanian

Alternative forms

altariu — dated, rare

Etymology

Inherited 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.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /alˈtar/
Rhymes: -ar
Hyphenation: al‧tar

Noun

altar n (plural altare)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
Synonym: pristol
communion table
chancel
shrine, sanctuary
Synonym: sanctuar

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	altar	altarul	altare	altarele
genitive-dative	altar	altarului	altare	altarelor
vocative	altarule		altarelor

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *h₂l̥tós

Proto-Italic *altos

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin altāre

Old Spanish altar

Spanish altar

Inherited from Old Spanish altar (attested as far back as the Cantar de Mio Cid^[1]), from Latin altāre. See also otero.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /alˈtaɾ/ [al̪ˈt̪aɾ]
Audio (Colombia): (file)
Rhymes: -aɾ
Syllabification: al‧tar

Noun

altar m (plural altares)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
stone that separates the firebox from the hearth in reverberatory furnaces

Derived terms

Descendants

Chavacano: altar

References

^ Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1983–1991), “altar”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary]‎^[1] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

Tagalog

Alternative forms

antal, artal — obsolete

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *h₂l̥tós

Proto-Italic *altos

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin altāre

Old Spanish altar

Spanish altarbor.

Tagalog altar

Borrowed from Spanish altar, from Old Spanish altar, from Latin altāre, from Proto-Italic *altos + Latin -ālis. Doublet of alta.

Pronunciation

(Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ʔalˈtaɾ/ [ʔɐlˈt̪aɾ]
Rhymes: -aɾ
Syllabification: al‧tar

Noun

altár (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜎ᜔ᜆᜇ᜔)

altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
Synonyms: dalanginan, dambana, alta

Related terms

altamayor

English

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Albanian

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Further reading

Catalan

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

References

Further reading

Chavacano

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Cimbrian

Etymology

Noun

References

Estonian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Derived terms

Compounds

Further reading

Faroese

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Declension

Galician

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Derived terms

References

Indonesian

Etymology

Pronunciation

Noun

Further reading

Irish

Pronunciation

Verb

Mutation

Latin

Pronunciation

Noun

Usage notes

Declension

Descendants

References

Lombard

Pronunciation

Noun

Manx

Noun

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Alternative forms

Noun

Etymology 2

Noun

References

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology