different between stele vs obelisk

English

Etymology 1

A parallel etymology to stale (“a handle, shaft, stem”, noun), distinguished via ablaut.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sti?l/
• Homophones: steal, steel

Noun

stele (plural steles)

1. Obsolete form of stale (“handle, shaft, stem”).

   • ...in o purpos stedefastly to dwelle
     And nat biwreye thing that men us telle
     ...that tale is nat worth a rake-stele
     L'ardee, we wommen conne no-thing hele [=hide]

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek ????? (st?l?, “upright rock; pillar; column”), plural form ?????? (stêlai).

Alternative forms

• stélé
• stelè

Pronunciation

• (modern) IPA^(key): /?sti?li/; (formerly also) IPA^(key): /sti?l/
• Rhymes: -i?li
• Homophone: steely

Noun

stele (plural steles or stelai)

1. (archaeology) An upright (or formerly upright) slab containing engraved or painted decorations or inscriptions; a stela.
   • 1820, T. S. Hughes, Trav. Sicily, I x 303:

     A superior class of members...had their names inscribed upon a marble stélé or column.

   • 1825, T. D. Fosbroke, Encycl. Antiq., I v 70:

     It appears, that when any one of the family died, a stelè to his memory was added to the tomb.

   • 1847, J. Leitch translating C. O. Müller, Anc. Art, §224 193:

     In Egypt [obelisks] belonged to the class of steles (commemorative pillars).

   • 1884, A. Lang, Custom & Myth, 285:

     The Australian stele, or grave-pillar.

2. (archaeology, uncommon) Any carved or engraved surface.
   • 1877, A. B. Edwards, Thousand Miles up Nile, VI 143:

     Two large hieroglyphed steles incised upon the face of a projecting mass of boldly rounded cliff.

3. (architecture, archaeology, obsolete) An acroterion, the decoration on the ridge of an ancient Greek building such as a temple.
   • c. 1840, Hosking, "Architecture" in Encyclopædia Britannica, III 470:

     Stele. The ornaments on the ridge of a Greek temple, answering to the antefixæ on the summit of the flank entablatures, are thus designated.

Usage notes

• Although stela and stele were used in antiquity for pillars and columns generally, and continued to carry that meaning when their use was revived in English archaeology and architecture in the 18th and 19th century, respectively, present usage usually distinguishes obelisks, columns, shafts (the body of a column between the capital and the pediment), etc., from stela and stele, which are used to refer to engraved slabs or small pillars.
• Furthermore, although the terms still refer to small pillarlike gravestones from antiquity, the similar-looking herms are now often distinguished, as are modern gravestones, monuments, boundary markers, etc.
• The terms do sometimes refer to undecorated rocks when they have been raised by artificial means in prehistoric times, particularly when they are slab-like, but the large Neolithic menhirs are usually distinguished as are Chinese scholar's rocks or Taihu rocks, and other modern uses of upright stones as decoration or signage.
• Stele is frequently pluralized irregularly as stelae, which is also used as a plural form of the more Latinized singular form stela. The anglicized Greek plural stelai has been used since the late 19th century but is less common than steles.

Synonyms

• stela

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From 1886 French stèle, from Ancient Greek ????? (st?l?, “upright rock; pillar; column”).

Noun

stele (plural steles)

1. (botany) The central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.
   • 1895, Sydney Howard Vines, A Students' Text-book of Botany, 179:

     The stele may have—in different structures—one to many protoxylem (primitive wood) groups, and is accordingly described as monarch...diarch...triarch...tetrarch...polyarch.

   • 1898, Hobart Charles Porter translating Eduard Strasburger & al. A Text-book of Botany, 109:

     The so-called central cylinder, for which Van Tieghem has proposed the name stele (column).

Translations

Anagrams

• Leets, Steel, Teels, Teles, leets, sleet, steel, teles

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

stele

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of stelen

Anagrams

• leest, sleet, slete, steel

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin st?lla.

Noun

stele f (plural stelis)

1. star

Indonesian

Etymology

From English stele, from 1886 French stèle, from Ancient Greek ????? (st?l?, “upright rock; pillar; column”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?stele]
• Hyphenation: sté?lé

Noun

stele or stélé

1. (botany) stele, the central core of a plant's root and stem system, especially including the vascular tissue and developed from the plerome.

Further reading

• “stele” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Istro-Romanian

Noun

stele f (plural form of ste)

1. stars

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st?.le/
• Rhymes: -?le
• Hyphenation: stè?le

Noun

stele f (invariable)

1. stele (all senses)

See also

• pilastro
• erma
• pilastrino
• cippo
• busto

Anagrams

• leste

Middle English

Alternative forms

• stel, stelle, steyle, stiele, steole, style

Etymology

From Old English st?le, st?le, st?ele, from Proto-West Germanic *stahl? (“steel weapon”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ste?l(?)/, /?st?l(?)/

Noun

stele (plural steles)

1. steel

Descendants

• English: steel
• Scots: stele, steill
• Yola: stheel

References

• “st???l(e, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ????? (st?l?, “pillar”).

Noun

stele m (definite singular stelen, indefinite plural steler, definite plural stelene)

1. (archaeology) A tall, slender stone monument, often with writing carved into its surface

Etymology 2

From Old Norse stela, from Proto-Germanic *stelan?.

Verb

stele (present tense steler, past tense stal, supine stålet)

1. form removed with the spelling reform of 2005; superseded by stjele

References

• “stele” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek ????? (st?l?, “pillar”).

Noun

stele m (definite singular stelen, indefinite plural stelar, definite plural stelane)

1. (archaeology) tall, slender stone monument, often with writing carved into its surface

Etymology 2

Verb

stele (present tense stel, past tense stal, past participle stole, passive infinitive stelast, present participle stelande, imperative stel)

1. Alternative form of stela

References

• “stele” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?stele]

Noun

stele f pl

1. plural of stea

Swedish

Adjective

stele

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of stel.

References

English

Etymology

From Middle French obelisque, from Latin obeliscus (“obelisk”), from Ancient Greek ????????? (obelískos), diminutive of ?????? (obelós, “needle”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??b?l?sk/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??b?l?sk/, /??b?l?sk/

Noun

obelisk (plural obelisks)

1. (architecture) A tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point, frequently used as a monument. [from mid 16th c.]
2. (typography) Synonym of obelus
   1. (historical) A symbol resembling a horizontal line (–), sometimes together with one or two dots (for example, ? or ÷), which was used in ancient manuscripts and texts to mark a word or passage as doubtful or spurious, or redundant.
   2. A dagger symbol (†), which is used in printed matter as a reference mark to refer the reader to a footnote, marginal note, etc.; beside a person's name to indicate that the person is deceased; or beside a date to indicate that it is a person's death date.

Usage notes

Regarding sense 2, obelus was used in Middle English, but thereafter was displaced by obelisk until the 19th century when both words began to be used with equal regularity.

Alternative forms

• obelisc

Synonyms

• (architecture): aguilla, pylon, stela

Hypernyms

• (architecture): needle

Meronyms

• (architecture): pyramidion

Derived terms

• obeliscal
• obeliscoid, obeliskoid
• obelisklike

Translations

See also

• menhir
• pillar

Verb

obelisk (third-person singular simple present obelisks, present participle obelisking, simple past and past participle obelisked)

1. (entomology, of a dragonfly) To adopt the obelisk posture; to point the tip of the abdomen towards the sun.

References

Polish

Etymology

From French obélisque, from Middle French obelisque, from Latin obeliscus (“obelisk”), from Ancient Greek ????????? (obelískos), diminutive of ?????? (obelós, “needle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??b?.l?isk/

Noun

obelisk m inan

1. (architecture) obelisk (tall, square, tapered, stone monolith topped with a pyramidal point)

Declension

Derived terms

• (adjective) obeliskowy

Further reading

• obelisk in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• obelisk in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Serbo-Croatian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ob?lisk/
• Hyphenation: o?be?lisk

Noun

obèlisk m (Cyrillic spelling ???????)

1. obelisk

Declension

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ob?l?sk/
• Rhymes: -?sk

Noun

obelisk c

1. obelisk

Declension