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voûte en cul de four

English translation: quarter-sphere vault (cul-de-four)


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GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
French term or phrase:voûte en cul de four
English translation:quarter-sphere vault (cul-de-four)
Options:
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08:36 Aug 31, 2011
    The asker opted for community grading. The question was closed on 2011-09-03 15:54:16 based on peer agreement (or, if there were too few peer comments, asker preference.)


French to English translations [PRO]
Architecture / ecclesiatical architecture
French term or phrase: voûte en cul de four
L'intérieur est composé d'une nef centrale et de deux bas-côtés; le choeur, percé de deux grandes baies, se termine par une voûte en cul de four
Hilary2
quarter-sphere vault (cul-de-four)
Explanation:
Cul-de-four is used in English too. You can also can it a quarter-sphere vault. Or use them together:

Cryptoporticus is made up of three double corridors covered with barrel vaults. ... windows, and covered with a magnificent quarter-sphere vault (cul-de-four). ...

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Note added at 11 mins (2011-08-31 08:48:09 GMT)
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In fact, I think if this should be translated as "cul-de-four". It get many more hits in Google and is in the dictionary:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cul-de-four

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Note added at 11 mins (2011-08-31 08:48:26 GMT)
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It gets*

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Note added at 33 mins (2011-08-31 09:09:59 GMT)
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As pointed out, this could also refer to a half-sphere vault. So I suggest using "cul-de-four".
Selected response from:

Steve Dreggs
Local time: 17:03
Grading comment
Thank you everyone !
Hilary
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4quarter-sphere vault (cul-de-four)
Steve Dreggs
4 +1half-domed vault
kashew
4hemispherical vault
Christopher Crockett
4 -1single arched vault
MartinPorto
Summary of reference entries provided
cul-de-fourxxxBourth

  

Answers


12 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -1
single arched vault


Explanation:
maybe what is meant is like a tunnel with a wall at the end, like the pizza oven I just built in the garden

MartinPorto
Portugal
Local time: 17:03
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Tony M: No, I'm afraid this is a quite specific architectural term, as described by Steve.
3 mins
  -> many thanks for that, I searched and searched, and found a few variants, but I agree Steve is right!
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
quarter-sphere vault (cul-de-four)


Explanation:
Cul-de-four is used in English too. You can also can it a quarter-sphere vault. Or use them together:

Cryptoporticus is made up of three double corridors covered with barrel vaults. ... windows, and covered with a magnificent quarter-sphere vault (cul-de-four). ...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 mins (2011-08-31 08:48:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

In fact, I think if this should be translated as "cul-de-four". It get many more hits in Google and is in the dictionary:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cul-de-four

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 11 mins (2011-08-31 08:48:26 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

It gets*

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 33 mins (2011-08-31 09:09:59 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

As pointed out, this could also refer to a half-sphere vault. So I suggest using "cul-de-four".

Steve Dreggs
Local time: 17:03
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Thank you everyone !
Hilary

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Tony M
8 mins
  -> Thanks, Tony
agree  kashew
19 mins
  -> Thanks, kashew
agree  Gilla Evans: yes, cul-de-four defined in the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture as "half-dome, as used over an apse or a niche.
21 mins
  -> Thanks, Gilla
agree  MartinPorto
5 hrs
neutral  Christopher Crockett: Technically you are correct, but I've never seen this somewhat awkward term used in the Art Historical literature --but, as I say in my answer, Art History is a young and inexact science. I prefer what Gilla found in the ODA --a half-dome or hemicycle.
7 hrs
  -> Thanks very much for your comment. Your answer is very interesting too.
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21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +1
half-domed vault


Explanation:
or as in the French.
Scroll down for an image here:
http://www.encyclopedie.bseditions.fr/article.php?pArticleId...

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Note added at 23 minutes (2011-08-31 09:00:03 GMT)
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voûte en demi-coupole ou « en cul de four »

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Note added at 27 minutes (2011-08-31 09:04:41 GMT)
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I've also seen "basin vault"

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Note added at 33 minutes (2011-08-31 09:10:05 GMT)
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and "semi-coupola".


kashew
France
Local time: 18:03
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 57

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Christopher Crockett: Something like that is what is used in the Art Historical literature --even if it is not literally correct (i.e., it's not a half- but a quarter-sphere).
7 hrs
  -> A dome is half a sphere, more or less.
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7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
hemispherical vault


Explanation:
I've always called the vault over the apse of a building the "hemicycle" --but I see now that I should have called it "a hemispherical vault", as here:

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Apse_(Architecture)

"Hemicycle" more properly refers to "A half circle, semicircle; a semicircular structure, as an orchestra or apse-like recess." [OED]

The fact that the vault covering the hemicycle is not really a "hemisphere" but rather a "quarter sphere" (as Steve says) is of no particular consequence, considering the awkwardness of "quarter spherical" and the fact that Art History is a relative young and inexact science.

In this case the French term "cul de four" may be more accurate than the English (a rare occurrence).

Christopher Crockett
Local time: 12:03
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 71
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Reference comments


27 mins peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: cul-de-four

Reference information:
A half-dome or quarter-sphere vault, as over an apse or niche.
[Dict. of Architecture & Construction, ed. Cyril M. Harris, McGHill]

xxxBourth
France
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 535

Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Christopher Crockett: Yes, and literally quite right. I just have never seen the "hemicycle of the apse" referred to in these terms, technically correct though they might be.
7 hrs
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