Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🏊 A swimming pool ⛪ A church basin 🐟 A fish pond
piscina

piscina

1 9.9
A stone basin in a church for draining water used in ceremonies
  • noun
  • /pɪˈsiːnə/
  • Specialized
translation icon : piscina
  • Many ancient churches feature piscinae for ritual purposes.

Examples

  • Water from the sacred vessels is poured into the piscina after each service.

  • The medieval church features a beautifully carved piscina near the altar.

  • During the restoration, workers discovered an ancient piscina hidden behind the choir stalls.

  • The church had a beautiful piscina for the holy water.

  • The piscina in the church was filled with holy water to bless the communion vessels.

  • During the ceremony, the priest used the piscina to drain the leftover water from the sacred rituals.

  • In many old churches, the piscina serves as a reminder of the importance of ritual purity.

Surface Forms

piscina singular
piscinas plural

Etymology

Piscina comes from the Latin word piscis meaning 'fish', and it originally meant a small 'pool' or fishpond. In churches that idea became a stone 'basin' for draining sacred water, so the name keeps the idea of a little pool.