the.com/lectern
a wooden bodyguard between you and the audience, and your shaking notes know it.
means A tall, slanted stand that holds a speaker's notes or a book, usually at the front of a room or church.
from From Latin 'lectrum,' a reading-desk, rooted in the verb 'legere,' to read — the same family that gives us 'lecture' and 'lectionary.' It reached English through Old French 'letrun' in the medieval church, where it propped up the heavy texts a reader stood over, and over centuries the spelling drifted back toward its Latin source.
- latin root
- from legere, meaning to read aloud
- vs podium
- podium is the platform; lectern holds your papers
- presidential
- the White House one is nicknamed the Blue Goose
- church origin
- often shaped like an eagle in old cathedrals
- power object
- grips it tight and you instantly look authoritative
for instance
house speaker lectern — where the speaker of the u.s. house stands to address congress, used since 1913