WORD FOR THE DAY

Your word for today is: reliquary, n.

reliquary, n.

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈrɛlᵻkwəri/,  U.S. /ˈrɛləˌkwɛri/

Forms:   15– reliquary,   16 reliquarie;   also Sc.  pre-17 relikkarie.

Etymology: <  relic n. (see forms at that entry) + -ary suffix1, after either Middle French reliquaire (also reliquiaire, reliquiere; French reliquaire) receptacle for a relic or relics (1328) or post-classical Latin reliquiarium (from 14th cent. in continental sources; earlier (Vetus Latina) in sense ‘remnant, heritage’), reliquiare (13th cent. in a British source; 15th cent. in a continental source). Compare Old Occitan reliquari (14th cent.), Spanish relicario (15th cent.; earlier reliquiario (13th cent.)), Portuguese relicário (14th cent.), also Catalan reliquiari (14th cent.), Italian reliquiario (16th cent. as reliquiere).

The u in Middle French reliquaire is purely graphic, as also in English relique, variant of relic n. The modern pronunciation of the English word with /w/ (recorded already in 18th-cent. sources) probably arose as a result of association with post-classical Latin reliquiarium or with classical Latin reliquiae relics (see relic n.). Compare also reliquaire n. and relicary n. (and discussion at that entry). Compare also reliquary adj., reliquarian adj., reliquism n., reliquation n.1

1.  A receptacle, often made of precious metal and richly decorated, in which a religious relic or relics are kept, as a small box, casket, or shrine.

1550 Inventory Munim. Earl of Crawford I. 20 Dec. 89 Ane relikkarie of Sanct Dorothea set in siluer.

1581  J. Bell tr.  W. Haddon  & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius iii. f. 462v, Historyes do report..that some of those Ashes be at Genes..and some at Rome..will our religious Reliquary [L. Reliquiarius] defend these for true, being so manifestly false?

1624  A. Darcie tr.  Originall of Idolatries xiv. 59 Before the Cabinet or Reliquarie, went a Cierger, carrying a light Taper.

1686  tr.  D. Bouhours Life St. Ignatius vi. 349 In a Reliquary, which he always carry'd about him, he put..a Relique of St. Thomas.

1739  T. Gray Let. 12 Apr. in Corr. (1971) I. 101 We..stopt at St. Denis, saw..crucifixes, and vows, crowns and reliquaries, of inestimable value.

1783  W. Beckford Dreams viii. 66 After dinner we were led round the churches, and if you are as much tired with reading my voluminous descriptions, as I was with the continual repetition of altars and reliquaries, the Lord have mercy upon you!

1841  M. H. Bloxam Princ. Gothic Eccles. Archit. (ed. 4) 202 A small stone reliquary or shrine of the fourteenth century was discovered a few years ago.

1874  J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People vii. §1. 346 Fresh orders were given to fling all relics from their reliquaries.

1909 Eng. Hist. Rev. 24 763 This entails a careful study of..the use of balsam with which the reliquary was filled, and of the strange relic of the praeputium which it is reported to have once contained.

1956 Chicago Tribune 8 Oct. ii. 1/1 A silver reliquary containing a particle of Innocent's heart.

2000  R. King Brunelleschi's Dome (2001) xvi. 141 Saint Zenobius, whose skull had been.placed inside a silver reliquary shaped like the dead saint's head.

 2.  fig. Something that preserves the memory of events or persons of the past.

1611  H. Hexham tr.  J. Polyander Disputation against Adoration of Reliques of Saints 11 The sincere doctrine of the H[oly] Gospell, and in breaking of bread, the true reliquaries and memorialls of the instructions & suffrances of our sole Redeemer Iesus Christ.

1760  G. Thompson tr.  Francisco de los Santos Descr. Escurial viii. 104 The reliquary of heaven..which has no equal.

1845  E. A. Poe Coliseum 12 Rich reliquary Of lofty contemplation left to Time By buried centuries.

1870  B. J. Lossing Home of Washington 12 The writer..has added many pages of interesting matter to the original collection, making, it is believed, a complete reliquary of Washington and his Home.

1973 Sociol. Anal. 34 7 Any pictures, monuments and statues of national heroes, as well as the national flag, could form a reliquary of the secular ethic.

1997 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 18 Dec. 35/2 People..stayed on, building small, cluttered lives, turning this neighborhood into a reliquary of Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson—as the old joke goes.

Compounds
 
  General attrib, as reliquary altar, reliquary pot, reliquary ring, etc.

1647 Arch. Maryland (1887) IV. 321  (list) A gold Reliquary case.

a1660  T. Urquhart tr.  Rabelais Wks. (1693) iii. lii. 423 Some fine Urn or Reliquary Pot.

1760  G. Thompson tr.  Francisco de los Santos Descr. Escurial ix. 141 Six candlesticks..are placed on the two reliquary altars on solemn days.

1877  W. Jones Finger-ring Lore 142 In the possession of Lady Fitz Harding is a remarkable reliquary ring.

1911  L. Hourticq Art in France ii. 30 Bernard..found in Auvergne certain reliquary statues which were venerated by the natives.

1955 Renaissance News 8 136 On the back of a simple reliquary crucifix of c. 1500..there are six obviously somewhat older translucent silver enamel plaques.

1986 Speculum 61 148 House-shaped reliquary purses.

2003  J. B. Scott Archit. for Shroud iv. 107 Guarini must already have been thinking about the chapel's reliquary altar, to which the flanking shafts would be visually tied.

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