cavern

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English caverne,^[2][3] borrowed from Old French caverne (“cave, vault, cellar”),^{[4][5][3][6][7]} and also directly borrowed from Latin caverna (“cave, den, cavity”).^{[8][9][10][11]} The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1155.^[12] The Latin noun is formed from cavus (“hollow”),^{[5][4][3][13]} which Etymonline and the American Heritage Dictionary trace to Proto-Indo-European *keuə- (“to swell; vault, hole”).^[4][3] Its suffix is the one in cistern and tavern,^[10][11][14] which Klein takes to be of Etruscan origin.^[14] It is related to cave.^[10][14][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hollow place underground; a cave: about 1374, in Chaucer's translation of Boethius, of the hidden caverns of the sea.^[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the word could also mean a sinus or other cavity of the body, or a depression;^[2] the OED records it for the cavity of the ear, the frontal sinus and the spaces between particles from 1626 to 1772.^[5] In Old English, Etymonline notes, such a place might be called an eorðscræf.^[4] The verb, to enclose as in a cavern, followed in the 17th century; since 1853 it has also meant to hollow out.^[5][15] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a hollow place in the ground", quoting Julius Caesar.^[16] The figurative use for a large dark recess, as of eye sockets or memory, is recorded in Merriam-Webster.^[15] In Australian slang of 1900 a cavern was the mouth.^[17]

Timeline

• c. 1374 – an underground hollow, a cave.^[5][2]
• before 1398 – a cavity, a sinus.^[2]
• 1626 – a cavity in the body, or a space between particles (obsolete by 1772).^[5]
• before 1640 – verb, to enclose as in a cavern.^[5] Merriam-Webster dates the verb to about 1630.^[15]
• 1853 – verb, to hollow out.^[5]
• 1860 – verb, to lurk in a cavern.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large cave, or a large chamber in a cave: The river runs through a series of limestone caverns.^[7][3][15]
2. A large dark hollow or recess.^[15][9]
3. (obsolete, 1626–1772) A cavity in the body, such as a sinus.^[5][2]

Verb

1. To enclose in, or as if in, a cavern.^[7][3][5]
2. To hollow out; usually with out.^[7][3][15]

Word family

• cavernous
• cavernicolous

Related words

• cave

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
7. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
15. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
16. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
17. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com