ILE

(See Aisle .) The pa ages in a church, parallel to the nave, from which they are separated by rows of columns and piers, being narrower and lower. The same term is applied to the side pa ages which sometimes mark the transept and the choir. The aisles of the apin are more properly called the ambulatory. The aisles were adopted from the ancient Basilicas, in which they are for the most part found. They are of comparatively rare occurrence in the Oriental churches. The word is derived from the Latin ala , which was used in an architectural sense to mean a side building, as we use wing . Thus Vitruvius, as quoted by Facciolati; “In ædificiis alæ dicuntur structura ad latria ædium, dextra, et sinistra protensæ, ut column arum ordines, vel porticus; quas Græci quoque πτερὰ et πτέρυγας appellant.” And thus in French, the same word aile signifies a wing and a church aisle.