English

Alternative forms

• catafalco

Noun

catafalque ‎(plural catafalques)

1. A platform used to display or convey a coffin during a funeral, often ornate.
   • 1942, The Giant Joshua by Maurine Whipple

     Until 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.

Translations

French

Etymology

From Italian catafalco, from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, from Ancient Greek κατά ‎(katá, “down”) + Latin fala ‎(“scaffolding, wooden siege tower”), which is from Etruscan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ka.ta.falk/
• Homophone: catafalques

Noun

catafalque m ‎(plural catafalques)

1. catafalco, catafalque