Medieval Architecture            UCSC

Romanesque (Rq.) and Gothic (Go.)            V. Jansen

TERMINI TECHNICI

For aid in defining terms, see the Reader and such books as James Smith Pierce, From Abacus to Zeus; the glossary at the back of Henri Focillon, Art of the West, or Robert Branner, Chartres Cathedral; John Fleming, Hugh Honour, and Nikolaus Pevsner, Dictionary of Architecture (in the Reference Section of the library); Cyril M. Harris, Dictionary of Architecture and Construction, (in the Reference Section); John Harris and Jill Lever, Illustrated Glossary of Architecture 850-1830 (in the Reference Section); a good dictionary, etc.  An easy and enjoyable way to learn some terms is by video:  view Light on the Stones (VT 1651) and Cathedral (VT 1993).

***For the "contest" in class, please addupthe number of terms you can define aloud (use these worksheets as desired).

Define the following terms according to their use in architecture (omitting Rq. or Go. terms as relevant):

abbey

aisle

ambulatory

apse

arcade

arch

arch order

archivolt

articulation

ashlar

barrel vault (Rq.)

base (of pier or column)

basilica

blind arcade

bay

boss (Go.)

buttress

campanile

cantonné pier (Go.)

capital

cathedral

cell (of a rib or groin vault; also called severy)

chapel

chapels en echelon (Rq.)

chevet

choir

ciborium

clerestory

cloister

colonnade

colonnette (note spelling)

column (also see engaged column, half column)

compound pier

corbel

corbel table (often in conjunction with “pilaster strips”)

course (as in masonry course)

crocket (Go.)

crossing

cruciform plan

crypt

diagonal rib (Go.)

diaphragm arch (Rq.)

dome (Rq.)

dosseret (Rq.)

elevation

endélit (Go.)

engaged column (also called attached column)

facade

flying buttress (Go.)

formeret (wall arch or rib)

gable (Go.)

gallery (some forms=same as “tribune”)

groin vault (also called cross vault) (Rq.)

ground plan

half-column

hemicycle

impost (as in impost block) (Rq.)

jamb

keystone

lierne (Go.)

lintel

Lombard bands (Rq.)

molding (moulding)

monastery

mullion (Go.)

mural

narthex

nave

passage (in the thickness of the wall of the clerestory or triforium)

pendentive (Rq.)

pier

pilaster

pinnacle (Go.)

plan (as in ground plan)

portal

priory

quadrant vault (Rq.)

radiating chapels

respond

rib (or ribbed) vault (also called cross-rib vault)

ridge rib (Go.)

rubble (masonry)

section

shafts (vaulting shafts)

soffit

spandrel

springing (of an arch)

squinch (Rq.)

stringcourse

tas-de-charge (Go.)

tierceron rib (Go.)

tracery (Go.)

transept

transverse arch

transverse rib (Go.)

tribune (also called “gallery”)

triforium

tympanum (plural=tympana)

vault (see also barrel vault, groin vault, quadrant vault, rib/ribbed vault)

voussoirs

wall rib (Go.)

westwork (Rq.)

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This page was last reviewed on 4/15/96.