Dais
2646133
219600901
2008-06-16T01:03:00Z
Alaibot
1324179
Robot: sorting stub (based on existing categorisation)
:''For the ''[[Ronin Warriors]]'' character, see [[Dais (Ronin Warriors)]]. [[Desert Senna]] (''Senna covesii'') is locally known as "dais".
{{wiktionary}}
'''Dais''' ([[French language|French]] ''dais'', estrade, [[Italian language|Italian]] ''predella'') is any raised platform located either within or without a [[room]] or enclosure, often for dignified occupancy, as at the front of a lecture hall or sanctuary.
Historically, the dais was a part of the [[floor]] at the end of a [[medieval]] [[Great hall|hall]], raised a step above the rest of the room. On this the [[lord]] of the [[Manor house|manor]] dined with his friends at the high table, apart from the retainers and servants. In medieval halls there was generally a deep recessed [[bay window]] at one or at each end of the dais, supposed to be for retirement or greater privacy than the open hall could afford.
In the [[French language]], the word is understood as a [[Baldachin|canopy]] or hanging over a seat; probably the name was an accretion from the seats of great people that were [[:wikt:surmounted|surmounted]] by such a feature.
==In literature==
In Sir [[Walter Scott]]'s ''[[Ivanhoe]]'', Cedric the Saxon's hall is described as having a dais, "occupied only by the principal members of the family and visitors of distinction" (Chapter III)
==References==
*{{1911}}
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[[Category:Floors]]
[[Category:Interior design]]
[[fr:Dais]]