# altar
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English alter, from Old English alter, taken from Latin altare (“altar”), probably related to adolere (“burn”); thus "burning place", influenced by altus (“high”). Displaced native Middle English wēved.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɒl.tə/, /ˈɔːl.tə/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈɔl.tɚ/
* (cot–caught merger) IPA: /ˈɑl.tɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒltə(ɹ), -ɔːltə(ɹ)
* Homophone: alter
* Hyphenation: al‧tar

### 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.
* (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, Era of the Individual: A Contribution to a History of Subjectivity:[…] now marking the end of ascetic rationalism, the monadology no longer implied a sacrifice of individuality on the altar of rationality.

#### Derived terms

* altarage
* altar bell
* altar boy
* altar bread
* altar call
* altar card
* altar carpet
* altar-cloth
* altar cloth
* altared
* altar girl
* altar guild
* altarist
* altarless
* altarlet
* altarlike
* altar of repose
* altarpiece
* altar poem
* altar screen
* altar server
* altar society
* altar stone
* altar-stone
* altar tomb
* altarware
* altar wine
* altarwise
* high altar
* Lady altar
* leave someone at the altar
* superaltar

#### Descendants

* → Maori: āta

#### Translations

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: מדבחא m (madbḥā)
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)
Biatah Bidayuh: panggoo bisadis
Breton: aoter (br) f
Bulgarian: олта́р (bg) m (oltár)
Burmese: ယဇ် ပလ္လင် (my) (yaj pallang)
Catalan: altar (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 祭壇 / 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
Egyptian: (ḫꜣwt)
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), 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: βωμός m (bōmós), θυσιαστήριον n (thusiastḗrion) (Christian or Jewish)
Gujarati: યજ્ઞવેદી (yajñavedī)
Hebrew: מִזְבֵּ֫חַ (he) m (mizbeákh)
Hindi: वेदी (hi) f (vedī)
Hungarian: oltár (hu)
Icelandic: altari (is) n
Ido: altaro (io)
Indonesian: altar (id), mezbah (id)
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)
Kazakh: мехраб (mexrab), алтарь (altar)
Khmer: បុចនីយដ្ឋាន (bocniiydthaan), អាសន (ʼasnô)
Korean: 제단(祭壇) (ko) (jedan)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: text (ku), mezheb (ku), sexan
Kyrgyz: алтарь (altar)
Lao: ຫີ້ງບູຊາ (hīng bū sā), ຮ້ານບູຊາ (hān bū sā)
Latin: ara (la) f, altare n
Latvian: altāris (lv) m
Lithuanian: aukuras m, altorius (lt) m
Luxembourgish: Altor (lb)
Macedonian: олтар m (oltar), жртвеник m (žrtvenik)
Malay: mazbah, mezbah
Malayalam: അൾത്താര (ml) (aḷttāra), മദ്ബഹാ (ml) (madbahā)
Maltese: artal m
Maori: āta (Christian), tūāhu (pagan)
Marathi: वेदी (vedī)
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: тахилын ширээ (taxilyn širee)
Nepali: वेदी (vedī)
Norman: autel m
Norwegian:
Bokmål: alter (no) n
Nynorsk: altar (no) n, alter (no) n
Occitan: autar (oc) m
Old English: wēofod n
Old Norse: altari, stalli m
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 (sk) m
Slovene: oltar (sl) m
Spanish: altar (es) m
Sranan Tongo: altari
Swahili: altare (sw), madhabahu class n
Swedish: altare (sv) n
Tagalog: dambana (tl)
Tajik: меҳроб (mehrob), мазбаҳ (mazbah)
Tamil: பலிபீடம் (ta) (palipīṭam)
Telugu: బలిపీఠము (te) (balipīṭhamu)
Thai: แท่นบูชา (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)
Uzbek: mehrob (uz), altar
Vietnamese: bàn thờ (vi)
Welsh: allor f
West Frisian: alter :

### Anagrams

* artal, ratal, talar

## Albanian
### Pronunciation

* 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.

### Noun

altár m
* altar

#### Declension
### Further reading

* “altar”, in FGJSH: Fjalor i gjuhës shqipe [Dictionary of the Albanian language] (in Albanian), 2006
* FGJSSH: Fjalor i gjuhës së sotme shqipe [Dictionary of the modern Albanian language]‎, 1980
* Newmark, L. (1999) “altar”, in Oxford Albanian-English Dictionary‎

## Catalan
### Etymology

Inherited from Latin altāre.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic) [əlˈta]
* IPA: (Valencia) [alˈtaɾ]
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -a(ɾ)

### Noun

altar m (plural altars)
* altar

### References

* “altar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

## Chavacano
### Etymology

Inherited from Spanish altar.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /alˈtaɾ/, [al̪ˈt̪aɾ]
* Hyphenation: al‧tar

### Noun

altár
* altar

## 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

### 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

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Noun

altar (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])
* altar

#### Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

### Further reading

* “altar”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
* “altar”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
* altar in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

## Faroese
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈal̥.taɹ/

### Noun

altar n (genitive singular altars, plural altar)
* altar

#### Declension
## Galician
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /alˈtaɾ/

### Noun

altar m (plural altares)
* altar
    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

* Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “altar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
* Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, 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 Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé 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

* IPA: /ˈaltar/
* Rhymes: -tar, -ar, -r
* Hyphenation: al‧tar

### Noun

altar (plural altar-altar)
* mass offering table
* mazbah (sacrificial place)
* (nautical term) a ladder on a ship's dock used to get up and down to and from the dock floor

### Further reading

* “altar” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

## Irish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈal̪ˠt̪ˠəɾˠ]

### Verb

altar
* present indicative autonomous of alt
* imperative autonomous of alt
* present subjunctive autonomous of alt

### Mutation

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: /ˈal.tar/, [ˈäɫ̪t̪är]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈal.tar/, [ˈäl̪t̪är]

### Noun

altar n (genitive altāris); third declension
* Alternative form of altāre

#### 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).

#### 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

## Lombard
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /alˈtɑːr/ (Milanese)

### Noun

altar m (plural altar)
* altar

## Manx
### Noun

altar m (plural altaryn)
* (religion) altar

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Noun

altar n
* form removed by a 1984 spelling decision; superseded by alter

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### 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)
* an altar

### Etymology 2
#### 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: /al.ˈtaɾ/

### Noun

altar m (plural altares)
* altar (flat 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

#### Derived terms

* gialtar

#### Descendants

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

## Portuguese
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /awˈtaʁ/ [aʊ̯ˈtah]
* (Brazil) IPA: /awˈtaʁ/ [aʊ̯ˈtah]
** (São Paulo) IPA: /awˈtaɾ/ [aʊ̯ˈtaɾ]
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /awˈtaʁ/ [aʊ̯ˈtaχ]
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /awˈtaɻ/ [aʊ̯ˈtaɻ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /alˈtaɾ/ [aɫˈtaɾ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /alˈtaɾ/ [aɫˈtaɾ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /alˈta.ɾi/ [aɫˈta.ɾi]

### Noun

altar m (plural altares)
* altar (flat 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: /alˈtar/

### Noun

altar n (plural altare)
* altar
    Synonym: pristol
* communion table
* chancel
* shrine, sanctuary
    Synonym: sanctuar

#### Declension
### Further reading

* altar in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

## Spanish
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

altar m (plural altares)
* altar (a table used for religious rites)
* stone that separates the firebox from the hearth in reverberatory furnaces

#### Derived terms

* altar mayor
* mesa de altar
* paño de altar
* pie del altar
* sacramento del altar
* sacrificio del altar
* visita de altares
* visitar los altares

#### Descendants

* Chavacano: altar

### References

* ↑ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “altar”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

### Further reading

* “altar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

## Tagalog
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish altar, from Latin altāre. Doublet of alta.

### Pronunciation

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

### Noun

altár (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜎ᜔ᜆᜇ᜔)
* altar (a table used for religious rites)
    Synonyms: dalanginan, dambana, alta

### Further reading

* “altar”, in Pambansang Diksiyonaryo | Diksiyonaryo.ph, Manila, 2018
* San Buena Ventura, Fr. Pedro de (1613) Juan de Silva, editor, Vocabulario de lengua tagala: El romance castellano puesto primero‎, La Noble Villa de Pila, page 47: “Altar) Altar (pc) C. de Igleſia v de otro lugar”