pulpitum

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin pulpitum. Doublet of pulpit.

Noun

pulpitum (plural pulpitums or pulpita)

1. A massive, often decorative screen of stone or timber that divides the choir from the nave and ambulatory in medieval cathedrals and monastic churches.

Latin

Etymology

Of obscure origin, but said to be an Ancient Greek borrowing. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, possibly a back-formation from plural pulpita, perhaps (via Etruscan *pulputa or *pulpta), from Ancient Greek πολύποδα (polúpoda), neuter plural of πολύπους (polúpous, “trodden by many feet, having many feet”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpul.pi.tum/, [ˈpʊɫ̪pɪt̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpul.pi.tum/, [ˈpulpit̪um]

Noun

pulpitum n (genitive pulpitī); second declension

1. platform, scaffold, or pulpit for public presentations or lectures
2. stage (for actors)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pulpitum	pulpita
Genitive	pulpitī	pulpitōrum
Dative	pulpitō	pulpitīs
Accusative	pulpitum	pulpita
Ablative	pulpitō	pulpitīs
Vocative	pulpitum	pulpita

Related terms

• pulpitō

Descendants

• Catalan: púlpit
• → English: pulpitum
• → French: pupitre
  • → Russian: пюпи́тр (pjupítr)
  • → Spanish: pupitre
    • → Catalan: pupitre
  • → Ukrainian: пюпі́тр (pjupítr)
• Friulian: pulpit
• Italian: pulpito
• Lombard: pulpit
• → Middle English: pulpit, pulpet, pollepyt, pullpite, polepitt, pulpitte, pulpytt, pulpette, pulpite
  • English: pulpit
  • Scots: poopit, poupit
• → Middle High German: pulpet
  • German: Pult
    • → Russian: пульт (pulʹt)
      • → Armenian: պուլտ (pult)
      • → Georgian: პულტი (ṗulṭi)
    • → Ukrainian: пу́льт (púlʹt)
  • → Swedish: pulpet
    • → Finnish: pulpetti
• → Norwegian: pult
• Piedmontese: pùlpit
• → Polish: pulpit
• Portuguese: púlpito
• → Romanian: pulpitum
• Spanish: púlpito

References

• “pulpitum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pulpitum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• pulpitum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “pulpitum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pulpitum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin pulpitum.

Noun

pulpitum n (uncountable)

1. pulpitum

Declension

declension of pulpitum (singular only)

	singular
n gender	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) pulpitum	pulpitumul
genitive/dative	(unui) pulpitum	pulpitumului
vocative	pulpitumule