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The belfry is a structure enclosing
bell A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inter ...
s for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a
bell tower A bell tower is a tower that contains one or more bells, or that is designed to hold bells even if it has none. Such a tower commonly serves as part of a Christian church, and will contain church bells, but there are also many secular bell tower ...
or
steeple In architecture, a steeple is a tall tower on a building, topped by a spire and often incorporating a belfry and other components. Steeples are very common on Christian churches and cathedrals and the use of the term generally connotes a religi ...
. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached to a
city hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
or other civic building. A belfry encloses the bell chamber, the room in which the bells are housed; its walls are pierced by openings which allow the sound to escape. The openings may be left uncovered but are commonly filled with
louver A louver (American English) or louvre (British English British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Lexico, Oxford Dictionaries, "English language, English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". Mor ...
s to prevent rain and snow from entering and damaging the bells. There may be a separate room below the bell chamber to house the ringers.


Etymology

The word ''belfry'' comes from the Old North French or , meaning 'movable wooden siege tower'. The Old French word itself is derived from
Middle High German Middle High German (MHG; german: Mittelhochdeutsch (Mhd.)) is the term for the form of German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High German and into Early New High German. High ...
, 'protecting shelter' (cf. the cognate ''
bergfried ''Bergfried'' (plural: ''bergfriede''; English: ''belfry''; French: ''tour-beffroi''; Spanish: ''torre del homenaje'') is a tall tower that is typically found in castles of the Middle Ages in German-speaking countries and in countries under German ...
''), combining the
Proto-Germanic Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages. Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic branc ...
, 'to protect', or , 'mountain, high place', with , 'peace; personal security', to create , lit. 'high place of security' or 'that which watches over peace'. The etymology was forgotten with time, which led to a variety of
folk etymologies Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...
and spellings, with the initial meaning being lost in the process, and sometime between the late 13th and the mid-15th century the new sense of "bell tower" was adopted in
Anglo-Latin Anglo-Latin literature is literature from Britain originally written in Latin. It includes literature written in Latin from parts of Britain which were not in England or English-speaking: "Anglo-" is used here as a prefix meaning British rather tha ...
and
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
. This new and current meaning came as a result of the common association with ''bell''.
Merriam-Webster Merriam-Webster, Inc. is an American company that publishes reference books and is especially known for its dictionaries. It is the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States. In 1831, George and Charles Merriam founded the company as ...
explains the transformation by the fact that the initial word was later used for different types of towers and protective buildings, many containing bells. People associated the berfrey with bells, and by
dissimilation In phonology, particularly within historical linguistics, dissimilation is a phenomenon whereby similar consonants or vowels in a word become less similar. In English, dissimilation is particularly common with liquid consonants such as /r/ and ...
or by association the word was successively spelled bellfrey, belfrey, and finally belfry. In larger towns, explains
Kingsley Amis Sir Kingsley William Amis (16 April 1922 – 22 October 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, short stories, radio and television scripts, and works of social an ...
, watchmen placed in towers were also on the lookout for fires. Though flags were used by the watchmen for communication, these towers usually contained an alarm bell or bells built into a
bell-cot A bellcote, bell-cote or bell-cot is a small framework and shelter for one or more bells. Bellcotes are most common in church architecture but are also seen on institutions such as schools. The bellcote may be carried on brackets projecting from ...
, thus
Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
speakers thought had something to do with bells: they altered it to ''belfry'', an interesting example of the process of folk etymology. In
Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
, the variants , , and are known. Today's
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
''
belfort Belfort (; archaic german: Beffert/Beffort) is a city in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in Northeastern France, situated between Lyon and Strasbourg, approximately from the France–Switzerland border. It is the prefecture of the Territo ...
'' combines the term ''bell'' with the term ''stronghold''. It was a watchtower that a city was permitted to build in its defence, while the Dutch term '' klokkenstoel'' ('bell-chair') refers only to the construction of the hanging system, or the way the bell or bells are installed within the tower. The Old French or alike has become in
modern French French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
.


See also

*
Bats in the belfry (disambiguation) Bats in the belfry is a phrase that refers to being crazy or eccentric. It may also refer to: Film * ''Bats in the Belfry'' (1942 film), a one-shot Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animated short * ''Bats in the Belfry'' (1960 film), a Woody Woodpecker fi ...
*
Belfries of Belgium and France The Belfries of Belgium and France are a group of 56 historical buildings designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, in recognition of the civic (rather than church) belfries serving as an architectural manifestation of emerging civic indep ...
, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in historic Flanders which is a collection of historical belfries. *
Shōrō The two main types of bell tower in Japan The or is the bell tower of a Buddhist temple in Japan, housing the temple's . It can also be found at some Shinto shrines which used to function as temples (see article '' Shinbutsu shūgō''), as ...


References

{{Authority control Bells (percussion) Architectural elements