Wednesday Word

Here’s a word that has come up enough times in The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco that I decided to get a precise definition:

 

narthex (när’ theks) n. 1. in early Christian churches, a porch or portico at the west end for penitents and others not admitted to the church itself.  2. any church vestibule leading to the nave

 

Apparently the shape of these entrances resembled the hollow stem of fennel, because the word comes from the Greek word narthēx, which is a giant fennel.

 

 

 

 

A Year of Books I’ve Read Before