E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Cal’vary [bare skull], Gol’gotha [skull].
The place of our Lord’s crucifixion; so called from some fanciful resemblance which it bore to a human skull. The present church of “the Holy Sepulchre” has no claim to be considered the site thereof; it is far more likely that the “mosque of Omar,” or the dome of the rock, occupies the real site.
1
A Calvary. A representation of the successive scenes of the Passion of Christ in a series of pictures, etc., in a church. The shrine containing the representations.
