Also 8 -falch, 9 -falc, -falk. [a. mod.F. catafalque, ad. It. catafalco (which also occurs in English); in Pr. cadafalcs, cadafaus, OCat. cadafal, Sp. cadafalso, cadahalso, cadalso, ONF. caafaus (in rég. -faut), OF. chaafaus (-faut), chafault, chafauld, whence OF. escafaut, eschafaut, mod.F. échafaud, Eng. SCAFFOLD; in med.L. variously found as catafaltus, cadafaldus, cadaffale, cadapallus, cadaphallus, chafallus. Of unknown derivation; even the orig. form is uncertain; F. pointing to -fald- or -falt-, It. to -falc-, Sp. to -fals (see SCAFFOLD.)
The derivation proposed by Diez is entirely discarded (see Romania, I. 490). M. Paul Meyer thinks the first element may be the Gr. κατα- which was sometimes used in med.L. in sense ‘beside,’ ‘alongside’ (Romania, II. 80). ‘The cadafals or chaafaus in OF. was a wooden erection crowning walls, and projecting from them on both sides. Thence the besieged commanded assailants beneath.’]
1. ‘A stage or platform, erected by way of honour in a church to receive the coffin or effigy of a deceased personage’ (Littré); ‘a temporary structure of carpentry, decorated with painting and sculpture, representing a tomb or cenotaph, and used in funeral ceremonies’ (Gwilt).
1641. Evelyn, Diary (1871), 36. In the middle of it was the hearse or catafalco of the late Arch-Dutchesse. Ibid. (1643), Mem. (1857), I. 46. In the nave of the church lies the catafalque, or hearse, of Louis XIII.
1766. Ann. Register, 58. The supposed corpse was deposited upon a magnificent catafalco, or scaffold, erected from the bottom to the top of the church and illuminated all over with wax candles.
1760. Pocock, Tour Scotl. (1881), 242. A sort of small wooden Catafalch placed over the tomb.
1831. Landor, Fra Rupert, Wks. 1846, II. 579. Never drops one but catafalc and canopy Are ready for him.
1834. Gentl. Mag., CIV. I. 104. A rich catafalque was erected in the centre, in which the remains of the Marshal were deposited during the service.
2. A movable structure of this kind; a kind of open hearse or funeral car.
1855. Browning, Statue & Bust, 57. The door she had passed was shut on her Till the final catafalk repassed.
1864. Daily Tel., 16 Sept., 5/1. The open hearse—one of the most extraordinary catafalcoes ever seen upon wheels.
3. transf. (humorous.)
1876. Geo. Eliot, Dan. Der., I. iii. The black and yellow catafalque known as ‘the best bed.’
