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caveola

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word caveola

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
late antique glossaries
Ultimate origin
Latin cavus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cavea
Latin caveola
From the same root
English decoy ← cavea

Forms

caveola f (genitive caveolae); first declension[1] Glossaries also have caviola,[2][3] and medieval forms include gaiola, gaola, jaola, geola and giola.[4][5][6]

Etymology

It is from Latin cavea (“cage”) + -ola, a diminutive.[1][2][3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in glossaries of late antiquity, which render it with Ancient Greek ζώγριον (zṓgrion).[1][2][3]

Semantic evolution

Beside “little cage”, its medieval forms gaiola, gaola and jaola came to mean a jail.[4][6] British records have it from 1151, when the citizens of Rouen were forbidden to keep prisoners in a gaiola, and it is common for gaols, gaol delivery and the right to keep a gaol.[6]

It lives on in Old French jaiole and gaiole, Italian gabbiuola and Portuguese gaiola.[1][6] English jail and gaol come from the two Old French forms, attested from about 1300 (about 1200 in surnames).[7]

Timeline

  • late antiquity – Glossaries gloss it with a Greek word.[1][2]
  • 1151 – A charter for Rouen speaks of keeping prisoners in a gaiola.[6]
  • c. 1300 – English has jail “prison; birdcage”.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A little cage.[3][2][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin, as gaiola, gaola) A jail, prison.[4][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f 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
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Caveola.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/caveola. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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