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