Etymologically
Log in

caminus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 01:41. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kaˈmiː.nʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kaˈmiː.nus][1]

Forms

camīnus m (genitive camīnī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κάμινος (káminos, “furnace, oven”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato, in his book on farming, tells how to stack fig wood in the furnace.[2][4] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a domestic stove, a furnace or forge, and in poetry the forge of Vulcan and the Cyclopes.[2][1] Pliny the Elder uses it of vents of subterranean fire, and figuratively it meant fire.[2][1]

In Late Latin camera camīnāta was a room with a fireplace, and medieval camīnāta gave Old French cheminee and English chimney, first “furnace”, in the late 13th century.[6] In medieval Latin camīnus was also a room with a chimney, and in British Latin a hearth, fireplace or grate.[7][8] It survives in Italian camino.[1]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a stove.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the forges of the Cyclopes.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of vents of subterranean fire.[2][5]
  • late 13th century – English chimney “furnace” is recorded.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A stove, fireplace.[2][1]
  2. A furnace, forge.[2]
  3. A vent of subterranean fire.[2]
  4. (figurative) Fire.[1]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A room with a chimney; a hearth, grate.[7][8]

Word family

  • camīnō
  • camīnāta

Usage notes

A different medieval word camīnus, from Celtic, meant a road and the right to tax traffic on it.[7][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b 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