NAVE

The central pa age of the church, extending from the west end to the transept or choir. The derivation of this word has been a matter of dispute. Some very plausibly derive it from νάος , others from nav is , a ship, since the nave resembles the hull of a ship turned upside down; and refer both this term and νάος also to the ancient Phœnicians, whose original temples were said to be their ve els thus reversed. At all events it is remarkable that both the old French nef , the Italian and Spanish nave , and the Latin nav is , all signify a ship as well as the nave of a church. (See Churches and Cathedral .)