belfry

English

Etymology

From Middle English belfrey, bellfray, belfray, from Old French belfroi, berfroi, berfrey (changed to have an l by association with bell), from Middle High German ^[1]^[2] bërcvrit (“'mountain peace', a defensive tower”) / bërvrit^[3], possibly via Late Latin berefredus, from Proto-Germanic *bergafriþuz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerĝʰ, *bʰr̥ĝʰ + *prāy-, *prēy- (“to like, love”).

Pronunciation

enPR: bĕlʹfrē, IPA^(key): /ˈbɛlfɹi/

Noun

belfry (plural belfries)

(obsolete) A movable tower used in sieges.
(dialectal) A shed.
(obsolete) An alarm-tower; a watchtower containing an alarm-bell.
(architecture) A tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church.
(architecture) A part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare & Co.; Sylvia Beach, OCLC 560090630; republished London: Published for the Egoist Press, London by John Rodker, Paris, October 1922, OCLC 2297483:
  Episode 12, The Cyclops
  From the belfries far and near the funereal deathbell tolled unceasingly while all around the gloomy precincts rolled the ominous warning of a hundred muffled drums punctuated by the hollow booming of pieces of ordnance.

Derived terms

have bats in one's belfry, have bats in the belfry

Translations

moveable tower used in sieges

Bulgarian: обсадна кула (obsadna kula)
Finnish: piiritystorni

French: beffroi (fr) m

watchtower containing an alarm-bell

Bulgarian: наблюдателна кула (nabljudatelna kula)
Dutch: belfort (nl) n

Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
French: beffroi (fr) m

tower or steeple specifically for containing bells, especially as part of a church

Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
Dutch: klokkentoren (nl) m
Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
French: beffroi (fr) m
Friulian: cjampanîli, cjampanili, cjampanîl, cjampanil
Greek: καμπαναριό (el) n (kampanarió), κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
Hungarian: harangtorony (hu)
Irish: clogás m
Istriot: canpaneîl, canpanèil
Italian: campanile (it) m
Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)

Manx: claggys m, thie cluig m, shamyr chluig f
Maori: pourewa pere
Polish: dzwonnica (pl) f
Portuguese: campanário (pt) m, torre sineira f
Romansch: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
Russian: колоко́льня (ru) f (kolokólʹnja)
Spanish: campanil, campanario (es)
Swedish: klocktorn (sv)
Tagalog: batingawan
Ukrainian: дзвіни́ця (uk) f (dzvinýcja)
Venetian: canpanil, canpanile, canpanièl, canpaniłe

part of a large tower or steeple, specifically for containing bells

Bulgarian: камбанария (kambanarija)
Finnish: kellotorni (fi)
German: Glockenstube (de) f
Greek: κωδωνοστάσιο (el) n (kodonostásio)
Irish: clogás m
Japanese: 鐘楼 (ja) (しょうろう, shōrō)

Maori: pourewa pere
Portuguese: campanário (pt) m
Romansch: clutger m (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Sutsilvan, Surmiran), clucher m (Puter, Vallader)
Spanish: campanario (es) m
Tagalog: batingawan

References

↑ belfry in Online Etymology dictionary
↑ belfry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
↑ Alternative spelling and languages with loanwords from the Middle High German word, in Benecke's Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch

“Belfry” in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN.

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[1] ry in Online Etymology dictionary

[2] ry in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

[3] Alternative spelling and languages with loanwords from the Middle High German word, in Benecke's Mittelhochdeutsches Wörterbuch