Nave

(Greek ναός) is the technical term applied to the part of a church ecclesiastically constructed westward of the choir in which the general congregation assembles; in large buildings it consists of a central division or body, with two or more.aisles, and there is sometimes a series of small chapels at the sides beyond the aisles; in smaller buildings it is often without aisles, but has frequently two or more, and sometimes one. In the cathedrals and conventual churches the nave was generally separated from the choir by a screen, which in most instances still remains; on the western side of this, next the nave, one or more altars were occasionally placed; one is recorded, for instance, to have stood thus at Canterbury Cathedral previous to the fire in 1174; the same arrangement appears also to have been formerly common in France, though, with but very few exceptions, the old screens have been removed to make way for light, open partitions. Previous to the Reformation the pulpit was always placed in the nave, as it still is at Ely and Chichester, and always in Roman Catholic churches on the continent; thn flnt also stood there, usually near the west end, sometimes in the middle, and now and then in an aisle, or adjoining one of the pillars. We occasionally find the word navis applied instead of nave; but there is no relation between the words, since navis is from the Greek word ναῦς, a ship, and nave from ναός, a temple. Other names were sometimes given to it descriptive of its uses, such as oratoriumn laici, ἐκκλησία, the assembly, quadrattuam populi, in allusion to the square form of this part, as distinguished from the semicircular chancel. In some of our old writers the word is written nef. The reader will find a full description of the various parts of an ancient church under the word CHURCH SEE CHURCH . See Farrar, Eccles. Dict. s.v.; Riddle, Christian Antiquities (see Index); Wolcott, Sacred Archeol. s.v.; Parker, Gloss. of Archeol. s.v.; Neale, Hist. East. Ch. (Introd.).