finial
/ˈfɪn.i.əl/ noun
Forms finials
- noun (architecture) Especially in Gothic architecture: an ornament, often in the form of a bunch or knot of foliage, on the peak of the gable of a roof, a pediment, a pinnacle, etc.
- noun (by extension) Any decorative fitting on the corner, end, or top of an object such as a canopy, a fencepost, a flagpole, a curtain rod, or the newel post of a staircase.
- noun (figurative, also attributive) The completion or end of something.
Etymology
From Late Middle English finial (“(adjective) final; (noun) ornament at the upper extremity of a pinnacle, spire, etc.”) [and other forms], a variant of final (“pertaining to the close or end of something, last, final”), from Old French final (“last, final; definitive”) (modern French final), from Latin fīnālis (“of or pertaining to the end of something, final; of or pertaining to boundaries”), from fīnis (“a border; an end”) (possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”) or *dʰeygʷ- (“to set up; to stick”)) + -ālis (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining’ to forming adjectives).
Webster’s 1913
- noun The knot or bunch of foliage, or foliated ornament, that forms the upper extremity of a pinnacle in Gothic architecture; sometimes, the pinnacle itself.
Etymology [L. finire to finish, end. See Finish.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “finial”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details