nave - noun - the hub of a wheel; the main part of the interior of a church, especially the long narrow central hall in the cruciform church that rises higher than the aisles flanking it to form a celestory.
This is the central approach to the altar and is meant to inspire both a feeling of smallness (the ceilings are usually extremely high) and a sense of wonder at the same time. From the entrance of the nave, the altar is usually in plain sight. The nave was the place reserved for the commoners, which, in some way, explains the colloquial use of the word to describe a low-born or unsophisticated person, usually male and usually young (a boy).
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
gramercy
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