whilst saying that "nimbus" referred only to a halo around the head. This, according to the OED, reversed the historical usage of both words, but whilst Didron's diktat was "not accepted in France", the OED noted it had already been picked up by several English dictionaries, and influenced usage in English, which still seems to be the case, as the word "nimbus" is mostly found describing whole-body haloes, and seems to have also influenced "gloriole" in the same direction. The only English term that unequivocally means a full-body halo, and cannot be used for a circular disk around the head is "mandorla", first occurring in 1883. However, this term, which is the Italian word for "almond", is usually reserved for the vesica piscis shape, at least in describing Christian art. In discussing Asian art, it is used more widely. Otherwise, there could be said to be an excess of words that could refer to either a head-disk or a full-body halo, and no word that clearly denotes a full-body halo that is not vesica piscis shaped. "Halo" by itself, according to recent dictionaries, means only a circle around the head, although Rhie and Thurman use the word also for circular full-body aureoles. See also Aura (paranormal) Aureola Crown of Immortality Glory (optical phenomenon) Glory in art Lesya Velificatio Notes References Aster, Shawn Zelig, The Unbeatable Light: Melammu and Its Biblical Parallels, Alter Orient und Altes Testament vol. 384 (Münster), 2012, Crill, Rosemary, and Jariwala, Kapil. The Indian Portrait, 1560–1860, National Portrait Gallery, London, 2010, Didron, Adolphe Napoléon, Christian Iconography: Or, The History of Christian Art in the Middle Ages, Translated by Ellen J. Millington, H. G. Bohn, (Original from Harvard University, Digitized for Google Books) – Volume I, Part I (pp. 25–165) is concerned with the halo in its different forms, though the book is not up to date. Dodwell, C. R., The Pictorial arts of the West, 800–1200, 1993, Yale UP, Rhie, Marylin and Thurman, Robert (eds.): Wisdom And Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet, 1991, Schiller, Gertrud, Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I, 1971 (English trans from German), Lund Humphries, London, Further reading Ainsworth, Maryan W., "Intentional Alterations of Early Netherlandish Paintings", Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol. 40, Essays in Memory of John M. Brealey (2005), pp. 51–65, 10, University of Chicago Press on behalf of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, – on the later addition and removal of