Belfry (architecture)
The belfry is a structure enclosing
A belfry encloses the bell chamber, the room in which the bells are housed; its walls are pierced by openings which allow the sound to escape. The openings may be left uncovered but are commonly filled with louvers to prevent rain and snow from entering and damaging the bells. There may be a separate room below the bell chamber to house the ringers.
Etymology
The word belfry comes from the
In Medieval Latin, the variants bertefredum, berfredum, and belfredum are known.[5] Today's Dutch belfort combines the term bell with the term stronghold. It was a watchtower that a city was permitted to build in its defence, while the Dutch term klokkenstoel ('bell-chair') refers only to the construction of the hanging system, or the way the bell or bells are installed within the tower.[citation needed] The Old French berfroi or alike has become beffroi [fr] in modern French.[1]
Gallery
-
Kremlin, Moscow, Russia
See also
- Bats in the belfry (disambiguation)
- Belfries of Belgium and France, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in historic Flanders which is a collection of historical belfries.
- Shōrō
References
- ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas R. "belfry". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ a b "Belfry". Encyclopædia Britannica online. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ a b "Belfry". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-14-119431-8. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
- ^ Wedgwood, Hensleigh (1855). "On False Etymologies". Transactions of the Philological Society (6): 70–71.