After the word "menhir" was misspelled in the championship round of the
National Spelling Bee, I made a note to sort out the difference between a
monolith, a
menhir, and a
cist. In the process of doing that, I found plenty of similar words. Killing two birds with one stone - or as a former boss used to say, in the interest of political correctness,
releasing two birds with one gesture - I have sorted out the synonyms with both definitions and black and white photographs:
.
dolmen n. Two large upright stones capped by a horizontal stone, usually regarded as a tomb; a cromlech.
dolmenic, adj..
menhir n. A large stone set upright in ancient times - either alone or with others - as a monument or memorial; a standing megalith.
.
megalith n. A very large stone, esp. as used in prehistoric architecture; a menhir.
megalithic, adj..
cist n. A prehistoric grave lined with stones and often having a lid of stone; a dolmen.
cisted, cistic, adj. .
cairn n. A heap of stones set up as a monument or burial marker.
cairned, cairny, adj. .
cromlech n. A prehistoric monument of rough stones supported in horizontal position by others; a dolmen.
.
barrow n. A large mound of earth or stones placed over a burial site; a tumulus.
.
tumulus n. An ancient grave mound; a cairn or barrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You may add your comments here.