barbican
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bar·bi·can
(bär'bĭ-kən) 
n.
A tower or other fortification on the approach to a castle or town, especially one at a gate or drawbridge.
n.
A tower or other fortification on the approach to a castle or town, especially one at a gate or drawbridge.
[Middle English, from Old French barbacane, from Medieval Latin barbacana, from Persian barbārkhān : barbār, guard (from Old Iranian *parivāraka-, protective) + khān, house (from Middle Persian).]
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barbican
Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology:
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barbican
[Co]
A tower or advance work defending the entrance to a castle.
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categories related to 'barbican'
- Roofs and Towers - barbican: fortified tower at gate or bridge
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Barbican
This article is about the type of building. For other uses, see Barbican (disambiguation).
A barbican, from medieval Latin barbecana, signifying the "outer fortification of a city or castle," with cognates in the Romance languages (perhaps deriving ultimately from Arabic or Persian cf. bab-khanah "gate-house" and "towered gateway"[1] or from the mediaeval English burgh-kenning[2]), is a fortified outpost or gateway, such as an outer defense to a city or castle, or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defensive purposes. Usually barbicans were situated outside the main line of defences and connected to the city walls with a walled road called the neck. In the 15th century, with the improvement in siege tactics and artillery, barbicans lost their significance. However, several barbicans were built even in the 16th century.
Fortified or mock-fortified gatehouses remained a feature of ambitious French and English residences into the 17th century.
Fortifications in East Asia also featured similar structures. In particular, gates in Chinese city walls were often defended by an additional "archery tower" in front of the main gatehouse, with the two towers connected by walls extending out from the main fortification. Called literally "jar walls", they are often referred to as "barbicans" in English.
See also
References
- ^ "Barbican" EOL Other possible roots of the word lie in the Arabic word barbakh, meaning a canal or channel through which water flows, might have been the source of the loop-hole meaning.
- ^ Etymology suggested by Sir Henry Spelman in the 1640s. He explained the name as a combination of “burgh” meaning tower; and “ken” meaning see or watch (as in the folk song “D’ya ken John Peel”). See also Where does the name 'Barbican' come from?
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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