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cama

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word cama

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
c. 560–636 AD, Isidore of Seville

Pronunciation

  • Ecclesiastical: /ˈkama/[1]

Forms

cama f (genitive camae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[1][2] Isidore of Seville connected it with Ancient Greek χαμαί (khamaí, “on the ground”), because the bed is low,[3][4][5] an explanation Wiktionary calls a folk etymology.[1] Köbler, following Walde and Hofmann, takes it for a Celtiberian word,[6] and Wiktionary notes that the spread of its descendants may point to a Paleo-Hispanic source.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Isidore of Seville (c. 560–636 AD) describes it as a short bed close to the ground,[3][5][6] and he explains camisia as the garment people sleep in on their camae.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Ælfric's glossary it is rendered in Old English as a short bed on the ground, and a 15th-century glossary gives the English “a shortbedde”.[7] It survives as the ordinary word for “bed” in Spanish, Portuguese, Galician and Asturian cama.[1][2]

Timeline

  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville describes the cama as a short, low bed.[3][6]
  • 15th century – A glossary renders it in English as “a shortbedde”.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A low, short bed close to the ground; a cot.[5][8][4][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Cite this entry

“Cama.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/cama. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·