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Parvise

Parvise is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Parvise rather than just read about it. In short: A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Parvise — main illustration
Parvise — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Parvise belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Parvise to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Parvise from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It is thus a church-specific type of forecourt, front yard or apron.

Etymology The term derives via Old French from the Latin paradisus meaning "paradise". This in turn came via Ancient Greek from the Indo-European Aryan languages of ancient Iran, where it meant a walled enclosure or garden precinct with heavenly flowers planted by the Clercs (Clerics).

Parvis of St Paul's Cathedral In London in the Middle Ages the serjeants-at-law practised at the parvis of St Paul's Cathedral, where clients could seek their counsel. In the 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer referred to "A sergeant of the lawe, war and wys / That often hadde been at the Parvys." Later, ecclesiastical courts developed at Doctors' Commons on the same site.

Late English use

In England the term was much later used to mean a room over the porch of a church. The architectural historians John Fleming, Hugh Honour and Nikolaus Pevsner, and the theologians Frank Cross and Elizabeth Livingstone all say this usage is wrong. The Oxford English Dictionary records this use as being "historical", and current in the middle of the 19th century. It may stem from an earlier misuse in F. Blomefield's book Norfolk, published in 1744.

Examples of English parvises

See also Church of the Holy Sepulchre

References

Sources Brown, Lesley, ed. (1993) [1933]. The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles. Vol. II (3rd ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 2112. ISBN 0-19-861134-X. Chaucer, Geoffrey. "The Clerkes Tale". In Sinan Kökbugur (ed.). The Canterbury Tales. Lines 311–312. Cross, F. L.; Livingstone, E. A., eds. (1997) [1957]. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 1224. ISBN 0-19-211655-X. Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1980) [1966]. The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 238. ISBN 0-14-051013-3.

Further reading

Hoad, TF, ed. (1996). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford University Press. Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2005). Oxford Dictionary of English (2nd, revised ed.). Oxford University Press.

Illustrations

Parvise: Part of St. Peter's Square in Rome, the parvis of St. Peter's Basilica
Part of St. Peter's Square in Rome, the parvis of St. Peter's Basilica
Parvise: Colonnade of St. Peter's Square
Colonnade of St. Peter's Square
Parvise: Three-storey Perpendicular Gothic porch of Church of St. John the Baptist, Cirencester: an elaborate example of what in later English usage has been called a parvise
Three-storey Perpendicular Gothic porch of Church of St. John the Baptist, Cirencester: an elaborate example of what in later English usage has been called a parvise
Parvise illustration
Parvise illustration

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Parvise

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Parvise claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Parvise before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Parvise ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Parvise

In research
Parvise appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Parvise in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Parvise is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Architectural elements, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Parvise outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Parvise in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Parvise means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Parvise out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Parvise in simple terms?

A parvis or parvise is the open space in front of and around a cathedral or church, especially when surrounded by either colonnades or porticoes, as at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Why does Parvise matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Parvise?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Parvise.

Tags

  • Architectural elements

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