Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
noun
- a raised structure on which the body of a deceased person lies or is carried in state.
- a hearse.
noun
- a temporary raised platform on which a body lies in state before or during a funeral
1640s, from French catafalque (17c.), from Italian catafalco “scaffold,” from Vulgar Latin *catafalicum, from Greek kata- “down” (see cata-), used in Medieval Latin with a sense of “beside, alongside” + fala “scaffolding, wooden siege tower,” a word said to be of Etruscan origin. The Medieval Latin word also yielded Old French chaffaut, chafaud (Modern French échafaud) “scaffold.”