Adytum

Word of the Day for Saturday, December 10, 2011

adytum \ad-i-tuhm\, noun:

1. A sacred place that the public is forbidden to enter; an inner shrine.
2. The most sacred or reserved part of any place of worship.

The girls stood in old-fashioned awe of the presence of betrothed lovers, and the schoolroom, by tacit consent, was treated as an adytum into which no third person would venture to penetrate.
-- Bertha Thomas, “Cressida,” London Society, Vol. 33, March 1878

And they, Père Silas and Modeste Maria Beck (that these two wrought in concert I could not doubt) opened up the adytum of his heart...
-- Charlotte Brontë, Villette

Adytum is from the Greek roots a- meaning “not” and -dyton meaning “to enter.”

With thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/