Candelabra

In Latin, the word candelabra was a plural – of the word candelabrum, which meant ‘a candlestick’ (holding one candle). Later it meant a lamp-stand as well. This usage was normal in English until the nineteenth century. So in Latin, the word candelabra could mean ‘many [separate] candlesticks’.

• In English, a candelabra was a single piece of equipment which held more than one candle, often in the form of a many-branched thing that hung from a ceiling.

As knowledge of Latin declined, candelabrum became less and less common. In modern English, an object designed to hold a single candle is a candlestick. An object to hold many candles is a candelabra (grammatically, a singular word). The plural of this is candelabras.

• The word candelabras can annoy those academics who try to be careful about the use of the ancient languages of scholarship. Good students note their teachers’ prejudices, and try to follow them. (Nevertheless, my own feeling is that this battle was lost over a hundred years ago, and there is no point in fighting it. The English language has decided that the plural word for a many-branched candlestick is candelabras. I’m happy with that.)