Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In archaeology, a temple, as distinguished from hieron, a shrine (chapel) or sanctuary (in this latter sense not necessarily implying the presence of any edifice).
  • noun In architecture, the inclosed chamber or cella of an ancient temple, where were placed the statue and a ceremonial altar of the divinity.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Arch.) A term used by modern archæologists instead of cella. See cella.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun architecture The inner part of a Greek temple; it contained a statue of the appropriate deity surrounded by a colonnaded portico; it gave rise to the Roman cella

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Greek dialectal nāos, temple, shrine.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek ναός (naos, "inner part of the temple").

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Examples

Comments

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  • cella

    January 31, 2009