A dictionary of the architecture and archaeology of the middle ages: including words used by ancient and modern authors in treating of architectural and other antiquities ... also, biographical notices of ancient architects / By John Britton ... Illustrated by numerous engravings by J. Le Keux.

  • John Britton
Date:
1838
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A dictionary of the architecture and archaeology of the middle ages: including words used by ancient and modern authors in treating of architectural and other antiquities ... also, biographical notices of ancient architects / By John Britton ... Illustrated by numerous engravings by J. Le Keux. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    [Kelkam's Nor. Fr. Diet.'] Astrum is sometimes used by Bracton, and other old law writers, to signify a whole house, or mansion ; i. e. pars pro toto, by a rhetorical figure, as wit- ness pro aris et focis.^’ Alabaster. AXal3<x(^T^ov, Gr.; alabastrites, h^it.; albatre, Fr.; alabastro. It. and Port.; alabaster, Ger. A species of gyp- sum. Gypsum (Greek plaster) is a mineral sub- stance, chemically termed sulphate of lime, because, on analysis, it is found to consist of lime combined, in a cer- tain proportion, with water and sulphuric acid. Gypsum, in its mineral state, more or less impure, is various in its structure; such as earthy, stony, foliaceous, and crystallised. In some states it is resplendent, reflecting star-like rays. The compact, or stony gypsum, is often pure white, and is the alabaster of modern mineralogists. In ordinary lan- guage, the word alabaster (a Latin term signifying a white star), has never been very determinate, either in ancient or modern usage. It has been applied to diflerent species of snow-coloured stones, some of them sulphates, some carbon- ates, of lime, and others compounded of both. The sparry and crystallised gypsums are, from the nature of their lustre, called selenites, or moon-stones,(Gr. (rsXf]vt], the moon); and selenitic has been sometimes written as the adjective, in place of gypseous or gypsine.’’ — [Booth's Anal. Diet. vol. I. p. 80.] By a slight calcination and grinding, gypsum is converted into Plaster of Paris, which is chiefly used for making casts and models : in a less pulverised state it is sometimes applied to the formation of floors in barns and dwelling-houses. In churches we frequently find the effigies of ecclesiastics cut out of blocks of alabaster. A LA Greque. Fr. A term applied by architects to one of the varieties of the ornament called the fret, used in cornices, floors, and other works. It is frequently seen in the pave- ments of ancient Roman villas. {See Fret.) Alan de Walsingham. (»See Walsingham.) Alatorium, or Allorium. Low Lat., from ala, a wing. A piazza, corridor, or covered way, in the flank of a building. —Da Cange. {See Cloister.) Alba. Low Lat. A beacon, or light-house. Ascenderit