Monday Word: Catafalque

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

catafalque [kat-uh-fawk, -fawlk, -falk]

noun

a raised structure on which the body of a deceased person lies or is carried in state.

examples
1. The casket was placed in the middle of the room on the catafalque built in 1865 to hold assassinated President Abraham Lincoln’s casket in the same place. Bill Barrow, The Denver Post, 7 Jan. 2025
2. A cardinal dispersed incense around the body, and then — before the basilica doors opened to the public — workers roped off the catafalque, such that the body of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI would stand apart. The Washington Post, 2 Jan 2023

origin

Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin catafalicum scaffold, from cata- + Latin fala
siege tower

Lincoln catafalque in the US Capitol

Comments

[loganberrybunny]

A word I don't think I'd encountered more than marginally until the Queen died, at which point it was all over the news for a while. As far as I can remember, here in the UK everyone pronounced it with the "-falk" ending, never "-faw(l)k".

[stonepicnicking_okapi]

👍 cool I had have never heard it before.