Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2022 February 5

= February 5 =

Gottvater im Auszug
I found the phrase "Gottvater im Auszug" in St. Sylvester, Schwabing and got nowhere with Google translate. It seems to relate to the picture (right) and the article de:Altarauszug, so I translated it as "The figure of God the Father at the top of the altar" but I would be interested to know if there is a word or phrase for (Altar)auszug in English and in any information on the subject in English. TSventon (talk) 19:00, 5 February 2022 (UTC)


 * The term used in English for a decorative screen behind an altar is an altarpiece or reredos, but the article you linked seems to specifically point to a sort of frieze on top of that. Alansplodge (talk) 22:40, 5 February 2022 (UTC)
 * The Grove Encyclopedia of Medieval Art and Architecture, Volume 2 (p. 516) under the entry for Schnitzaltar says:
 * Placed on both the high altar and side altars, and carved of native woods (mainly limewood and pine), Schnitzaltäre consist of four essential sections: a central shrine (Ger. Schrein; Lat. and Ger. Corpus) containing sculpture rests on a smaller shrine commonly referred to by the Italian term predella (Ger. Sarg); moveable pairs of shutters or wings (Ger. Flügel), bearing either paintings or relief carvings on both front and back, are attached to the shrine and to the predella; and the shrine is always crowned with an architecture-like superstructure (Ger. Auszug) consisting of carved tracery and sculpture niches. Most examples are profusely coloured and gilded.
 * So it would seem that there isn't an English term for "Auszug" in this context - I would suggest "top of the altarpiece" (the altar itself being generally a rectangular table). Alansplodge (talk) 23:20, 5 February 2022 (UTC)
 * For lack of an English equivalent, a book may leave the term untranslated. But texts tend to use superstructure in the explanation or as an English substitute; see The Grove Encyclopedia quoted above, the book linked to in the previous sentence, and some others . --Lambiam 01:11, 6 February 2022 (UTC)
 * Thank you all, I have updated the article. TSventon (talk) 12:04, 6 February 2022 (UTC)