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Church vocab


EmilyA
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I am starting a translation of a powerpoint about the restoration work in our village church, which has been written by a fellow member of the conseil. Can someone with a background in these things help me with the question of whether "retable" in French should be reredos or altarpiece in English? We are talking about the sixteenth and seventeenth century paintings behind the altar which have just been restored.
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Thanks all. They are paintings on wood attached to and above the altar which seems to cover both definitions, but I think altarpiece is a bit more accessible as vocabulary (and I don't know how to pronounce reredos!) It is a tiny country church in Normandy, but they are very fine paintings which have been wonderfully restored after they had been "improved" by successive generations of priests!
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Now scratching my head over this one...

"pièce rapportée ou antépendium amovible en fonction de la liturgie"

Also the use of "polychrome" to describe the paintings. Dictionaries and Google say polychrome, but I am not sure that means very much to the average visitor (or to me..).

Very grateful for help so far...
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Thanks GG - just that it talks about les peintures polychromes and "sixteenth century multi-coloured paintings" sounds a bit odd to my ears...

Also I don't know what antependium means in either language, but removeable depending on the form of service does makes perfect sense...
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Thank you - a great help. I hadn't thought to check the definition in English (duh) and according to Wiki, it is a decorative hanging, which makes sense (and indeed if I had remembered my Latin would be an in-front hanging!)
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Thanks Norman, I am sure that is right though it couldn't be an altar-cloth in the C of E sense as the altar is part of the whole thing and not separate - I think a detachable hanging is probably closer. (Goodness this is complicated). I am also struggling with how to describe the man who did the woodwork restoration; clearly a cabinet maker, rather than a carpenter or joiner, but cabinet maker sounds odd in relation to altars. Master craftsman in wood, perhaps?
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