Catafalque

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈkatÉ™falk/

Alternative forms

• catafalco

Origin

Borrowing from fr {{2}} catafalque, from Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum (""), from Ancient Greek κατά ("down") + Latin fala ("scaffolding, wooden siege tower"), which is from Etruscan. Also influenced scaffold.

Full definition of catafalque

Noun

1. A platform used to display or convey a coffin during a funeral, often ornate.
• 1942, The Giant Joshua by Maurine WhippleUntil noon, the hour of the funeral, crowds continued to file by the plain pine coffin on its plain flower-covered catafalque.
• 2007, Edwin Mullins, The Popes of Avignon, Blue Bridge 2008, p. 91:The period of official mourning was long-drawn-out even by the standards of the day; the funeral ceremony held in Avignon's cathedral lasted a full nine days, with the pope's catafalque hung with black silk beneath candelabra likewise draped in black.