Obelisk

Obelisk (pronounced ob-uh-lisk)

(1) Classically, a tapering, four-sided shaft of stone, usually monolithic and having a pyramidal apex.  Most are vertical constructions.

(2) Something resembling such a shaft.

(3) An obelus.

(4) In printing, an alternative name for the dagger sign (†), especially when used as a reference mark.

1540-1550: From the sixteenth century French obélisque, from the Classical Latin obeliscus (obelisk, small spit), from the Greek obelískos (small spit, obelisk, leg of a compass), diminutive of obelos (a spit, pointed pillar, needle, broach; obelisk; bar of metal used as a coin or weight), of uncertain origin but said by etymologists to be pre-Greek.  Literal translations of obelos were variously “a spit, pointed pillar, needle”, the construct being obel(ós) + iskos, the diminutive suffix while the meaning in English was picked up from the Middle French obélisque.  The Greek obeliskos, reflecting the influence of Medieval translations, is sometimes translated as “leg of a compass".  The related adjectival forms are obeliscal and obeliskoid.  In printing, the sign resembling a small dagger dates from the 1580s; in dictionaries it's used to mark obsolete words (the Greek obelos also was "a mark used in writing; horizontal line used as a diacritic".

Ruins with an obelisk in the distance (1764), by Hubert Robert (1733–1808).

Lindsay Lohan walking in front of one of the Obélisques de Louxor (The Luxor Obelisks), Place de la Concorde in Paris, Paris Fashion Week, March 2010.

One of the Monoliths as depicted in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 

The mysterious black structures in Sir Arthur C Clarke's (1917–2008) Space Odyssey series (1968-1997) became well known after the release in 1968 of Stanley Kubrick's (1928–1999) film of the first novel in the series, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Although sometimes described as “obelisk”, the author noted they were really “monoliths”.  The noun monolith was from the French monolithe (object made from a single block of stone), from Middle French monolythe (made from a single block of stone) and their etymon the Latin monolithus (made from a single block of stone), from the Ancient Greek μονόλιθος (monólithos) (made from a single block of stone), the construct being μονο- (mono-) (the prefix appended to convey the meaning “alone; single”), from μόνος (monos) (alone; only, unique), ultimately from the primitive Indo-European mey- (little, small) + λίθος (líthos) (a stone; stone as a substance).  The English form was cognate with the German monolith (made from a single block of stone).  In recent years, enthusiasts, mischief makers and click-bait hunters have been erecting similar monoliths in remote parts of planet Earth, leaving them to be discovered and publicized.  With typical alacrity, modern commerce noted the interest  and soon, replicas were being offered for sale, a gap in the market for Christmas gifts between US$10,000-45,000 apparently identified.

Yuri Gagarin (1934–1968; Soviet pilot and cosmonaut and the first human to travel to “outer space”) with his 1965 Matra Djet (left), standing in front of the Покори́телям ко́смоса (Monumént Pokorítelyam kósmosa) (Monument to the Conquerors of Space), the titanium obelisk erected in 1964 to celebrate the USSR's pioneering achievements in space exploration.  The structure stands 351 feet (107 metres) tall and assumes an incline of 77° which is a bit of artistic licence because the rockets were launched in a vertical path but it was a good decision however because it lent the monument a greater sense of drama.  Underneath the obelisk sits the Музей космонавтики (Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (known also as the Memorial Museum of Astronautics or Memorial Museum of Space Exploration)) and in the way which was typical of projects in the Brezhnev-era (Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982; Soviet leader 1964-1982) USSR, although construction was begun in 1964, it wasn't until 1981 the museum opened to the public.