cathedral: [13] Cathedral is a shortening of cathedral church, which was originally the ‘church housing the bishop’s throne’. For ultimately cathedral comes from Greek kathédrā (source also of English chair), a compound noun meaning ‘seat’, formed from katá- ‘down’ and *hed- ‘sit’. The adjectival form was created in late Latin as cathedrālis, and reached English via Old French. The notion of the bishop’s authority residing in his throne recurs in see, which comes from Latin sēdem ‘seat’, a relative of English sit. => chair
cathedral (n.)
1580s, "church of a bishop," from phrase cathedral church (c. 1300), partially translating Late Latin ecclesia cathedralis "church of a bishop's seat," from Latin cathedra "an easy chair (principally used by ladies)," also metonymically, as in cathedrae molles "luxurious women;" also "a professor's chair;" from Greek kathedra "seat, bench," from kata "down" (see cata-) + hedra "seat, base, chair, face of a geometric solid," from PIE root *sed- (1) "to sit" (see sedentary).
It was born an adjective, and attempts to cobble further adjectivization onto it in 17c. yielded cathedraical (1670s), cathedratic (1660s), cathedratical (1660s), after which the effort seems to have been given up.
双语例句
1. As Wren's epitaph famously declares, the cathedral itself is his monument.
众所周知，雷恩的墓志铭中写道，大教堂本身就是他的纪念碑。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The fourteenth century cathedral was reduced to a mass of rubble.
这座14世纪的大教堂变成了一堆瓦砾。
来自柯林斯例句
3. The cathedral was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1136 AD.
大教堂在公元1136年的大火中被付之一炬。
来自柯林斯例句
4. His funeral will be on Thursday at Blackburn Cathedral.
他的葬礼将于星期四在布莱克本大教堂举行。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Notre-Dame Cathedral in Senlis is less famous than its namesake in Paris.
