Wiktionary

stele

See also: Stele, stélé, stèle, stelè, ŝtele, and -stele

English edit

 
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The funerary stele (gravestone) of Pollis (circa 480 BC), a Megaran hoplite.

Etymology 1 edit

From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”), plural form στῆλαι (stêlai). Doublet of stela.

 
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Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

stele (plural steles or stelai)

  1. (archaeology) An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.
    • 1820, T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I x 303:
      A superior class of members...had their names inscribed upon a marble stélé or column.
    • 1825, T. D. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq., I v 70:
      It appears, that when any one of the family died, a stelè to his memory was added to the tomb.
    • 1847, C. O. Müller, translated by J. Leitch, Anc. Art, §224 193:
      In Egypt [obelisks] belonged to the class of steles (commemorative pillars).
    • 1884, A. Lang, Custom & Myth, section 285:
      The Australian stele, or grave-pillar.
  2. (archaeology, uncommon) Any carved or engraved surface.
    • 1877, A. B. Edwards, Thousand Miles up Nile, VI 143:
      Two large hieroglyphed steles incised upon the face of a projecting mass of boldly rounded cliff.
  3. (architecture, archaeology, obsolete) An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.
    • c. 1840, Hosking, "Architecture" in Encyclopædia Britannica, III 470:
      Stele. The ornaments on the ridge of a Greek temple, answering to the antefixæ on the summit of the flank entablatures, are thus designated.
Usage notes edit
  • Although stela and stele were used in antiquity for pillars and columns generally, and continued to carry that meaning when their use was revived in English archaeology and architecture in the 18th and 19th century, respectively, present usage usually distinguishes obelisks, columns, shafts (the body of a column between the capital and the pediment), etc., from stela and stele, which are used to refer to engraved slabs or small pillars.
  • Furthermore, although the terms still refer to small pillarlike gravestones from antiquity, the similar-looking herms are now often distinguished, as are modern gravestones, monuments, boundary markers, etc.
  • The terms do sometimes refer to undecorated rocks when they have been raised by artificial means in prehistoric times, particularly when they are slab-like, but the large Neolithic menhirs are usually distinguished as are Chinese scholar's rocks or Taihu rocks, and other modern uses of upright stones as decoration or signage.
  • Stele is frequently pluralized irregularly as stelae, which is also used as a plural form of the more Latinized singular form stela. The anglicized Greek plural stelai has been used since the late 19th century but is less common than steles.
Synonyms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

From 1886 French stèle, from Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”).

Noun edit

stele (plural steles)

  1. (botany) The central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.
    • 1895, Sydney Howard Vines, A Students' Text-book of Botany, section 179:
      The stele may have—in different structures—one to many protoxylem (primitive wood) groups, and is accordingly described as monarch...diarch...triarch...tetrarch...polyarch.
    • 1898, Eduard Strasburger et al., translated by Hobart Charles Porter, A Text-book of Botany, section 109:
      The so-called central cylinder, for which Van Tieghem has proposed the name stele (column).
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

References edit

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary. "Stele".

Anagrams edit

Dutch edit

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

stele

  1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of stelen

Anagrams edit

Friulian edit

Etymology edit

From Latin stēlla.

Noun edit

stele f (plural stelis)

  1. star

Indonesian edit

 
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Etymology edit

From English stele, from 1886 French stèle, from Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “upright rock; pillar; column”).

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): [ˈstele]
  • Hyphenation: sté‧lé

Noun edit

stele or stélé

  1. (botany) stele, the central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.

Further reading edit

Istro-Romanian edit

Noun edit

stele f (plural form of ste)

  1. stars

Italian edit

Pronunciation edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈstɛ.le/
  • Rhymes: -ɛle
  • Hyphenation: stè‧le

Noun edit

stele f (invariable)

  1. stele (all senses)

See also edit

Anagrams edit

Middle English edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Old English stēle, stȳle, stīele, from Proto-West Germanic *stahlī (“steel weapon”).

Alternative forms edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

stele (plural steles)

  1. steel
Descendants edit
  • English: steel
  • Scots: stele, steill
  • Yola: stheel

References edit

Etymology 2 edit

Inherited from Old English stela, steola; a parallel etymology to English stale (“a handle, shaft, stem”, noun).

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

stele (plural steles or stelen)

  1. A stem or trunk of a plant.
  2. A ladder's side or half.
    • c. 1225, “Seſte dale: penitence”, in Ancrene Ƿiſſe (MS. Corpus Christi 402)‎[1], Herefordshire, published c. 1235, folio 96, recto; republished at Cambridge: Parker Library on the Web, 2018 January:
      ſcheome ⁊ pine · aſ ſein Beornard ſeið beoð þe tƿa leaddꝛe steolen þe beoð up rriht to heouene […]
      As Saint Bernard says, shame and penury are the two sides of the ladder that go right up to heaven.
  3. A handle or shaft.
Descendants edit

References edit

Etymology 3 edit

Verb edit

stele

  1. Alternative form of stelen

Norwegian Bokmål edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “pillar”).

Noun edit

stele m (definite singular stelen, indefinite plural steler, definite plural stelene)

  1. (archaeology) A tall, slender stone monument, often with writing carved into its surface

Etymology 2 edit

From Old Norse stela, from Proto-Germanic *stelaną.

Verb edit

stele (present tense steler, past tense stal, supine stålet)

  1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by stjele

References edit

Anagrams edit

Norwegian Nynorsk edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Ancient Greek στήλη (stḗlē, “pillar”).

Noun edit

stele m (definite singular stelen, indefinite plural stelar, definite plural stelane)

  1. (archaeology) tall, slender stone monument, often with writing carved into its surface

Etymology 2 edit

Verb edit

stele (present tense stel, past tense stal, past participle stole, passive infinitive stelast, present participle stelande, imperative stel)

  1. Alternative form of stela

References edit

Romanian edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

stele f

  1. inflection of stea:
    1. indefinite nominative/accusative plural
    2. indefinite genitive/dative singular/plural

Swedish edit

Adjective edit

stele

  1. definite natural masculine singular of stel

References edit


Venetian edit

Noun edit

stele

  1. plural of stela
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