altare

See also: Altare and Altäre

Afrikaans

Noun

altare

1. plural of altaar

Italian

Etymology

From Late Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /alˈta.re/
• Rhymes: -are
• Hyphenation: al‧tà‧re

Noun

altare m (plural altari, diminutive altarino)

1. altar

Derived terms

• altare maggiore

Descendants

• → Ma'di: ãlĩtárĩ

Further reading

• altare in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• “altare”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Anagrams

• Altera, Telara, altera, realtà, talare

Latin

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

altāre

1. present active infinitive of altō

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-tós

Proto-Indo-European *h₂l̥tós

Proto-Italic *altos

Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-

Proto-Indo-European *-is

Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.?

Proto-Italic *-ālis

Latin -ālis

Latin altāre

Possibly from *altos + -ālis, with dissimilation of the -l- in the suffix due to the -l- in the root. The term *altos is perhaps a continuation of Proto-Indo-European *h₂l̥tós, from the root *h₂el- (“to grow, nourish”), and it may have once served as the participle to *oleō (“to stroke by fire”).

Alternative forms

• (post-Classical or Late Latin) altar, altārium

Noun

altāre n (genitive altāris); third declension

1. altar, fitting for burnt offerings

Usage notes

In Classical Latin, mainly used as plural form altāria. See other forms altar and altārium.

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, pure i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	altāre	altāria
genitive	altāris	altārium
dative	altārī	altāribus
accusative	altāre	altāria
ablative	altārī	altāribus
vocative	altāre	altāria

Descendants

• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Dalmatian: altur (or from altārium)
  • Istriot: altàr
  • Italian: altare
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: altar
  • Occitan: autar
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: altar
    • Galician: altar
    • Portuguese: altar
  • Old Spanish: altar
    • Spanish: altar
      • Chavacano: altar
      • → Chamicuro: altar
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: lter
  • → Basque: aldare
  • → Belarusian: алтар (altar)
  • → Proto-Brythonic: *alltọr (see there for further descendants)
  • → Chuukese: antare
  • → Estonian: altar
  • → Latvian: altāris
  • → Lithuanian: aukuras
  • → Malayalam: അൾത്താര (aḷttāra)
  • → Maltese: artal
  • → Northern Sami: áltár
  • → Old English: altare, alter
  • → Old French: autel, alter
    • French: autel
    • Norman: autel
  • → Old Irish: altóir
    • Irish: altóir
    • Manx: altar
    • Scottish Gaelic: altair
  • → Russian: алта́рь (altárʹ) (see there for further descendants)
  • → Swahili: altare
  • → Ukrainian: вівтар (vivtar)
  • → Uzbek: altar

Further reading

• “altare”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “altare”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Old English

Alternative forms

• alter

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin altāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑl.tɑ.re/, [ˈɑɫ.tɑ.re]

Noun

altare m

1. altar

Declension

Strong ja-stem:

	singular	plural
nominative	altare	altaras
accusative	altare	altaras
genitive	altares	altara
dative	altare	altarum

Derived terms

• hēahaltare

References

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “altar”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Old Frisian

Alternative forms

• alter

Noun

altāre m or n

1. altar

Inflection

Declension of altāre (masculine ja-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	altāre	altārar, altāra
accusative	altāre	altārar, altāra
genitive	altāres	altāra
dative	altāre	altārum, altārem

Declension of altāre (neuter ja-stem)

	singular	plural
nominative	altāre	altāre, altāru
accusative	altāre	altāre, altāru
genitive	altāres	altāra
dative	altāre	altārum, altārem

Descendants

• West Frisian: alter

Swahili

Etymology

Presumably borrowed from English altar, although the preservation of the rhotic may indicate a form created by missionaries under the influence of Latin altare.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Noun

altare class IX (plural altare class X)

1. altar

Swedish

altare

Etymology

From Old Swedish altari, from Old Norse altari, from Old Saxon altari, from Latin altāre.

Noun

altare n

1. altar (flat-topped structure used for religious rites)
   • 2000, 1973 års bibelkommission, “Fjärde Moseboken [Numbers] 23:1”, in Bibel 2000‎^[1], © Svenska Bibelsällskapet, accessed at Bible.com, archived from the original on 22 September 2025:

     Bileam sade till Balak: »Bygg sju altaren åt mig här, och skaffa hit sju tjurar och sju baggar.«

     Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams."

Declension

Declension of altare

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	altare	altares
	definite	altaret	altarets
plural	indefinite	altare, altaren	altares, altarens
	definite	altarna	altarnas

Related terms

• altarklädnad
• altaroffer
• altarring
• altartavla
• föra någon till altaret
• högaltare

References

• “altare”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• altare in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

Anagrams

• latare, talare