cancellus

[kan-sel-uhs]

noun

Architecture.

plural

cancelli 

1. (in an early Christian basilica) one of a row of bars separating the clergy and sometimes the choir from the congregation.

2. (in an ancient Roman basilica) one of a row of bars separating the court personnel from the spectators.

3. cancelli, a screen of such bars.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cancellus¹

< Latin, equivalent to canc ( rī ) grating (plural of cancer, apparently dissimilated form of carcer prison) + -ellus diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

It had apparently not begun in 1286, for a mandate of Archbishop Romanus in that year begins Cancellus Rypon’ ruinosus reparetur; but it may have been completed before the irruption of the Scots in 1318.

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Chancel is derived, through Fr. chancel or cancel, from Lat. cancellus, a cross-bar, occurring more usually in the plural in the sense of lattice, grating.

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In German cancellus has given Kanzel, pulpit.

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