tunnel English · revision 6588

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1440|origins=la-med tunna}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈtʌn(ə)l/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English tonel, [[bor|fro|tonel|t=cask]] or [[m|frm|tonnelle|t=net]], a diminutive of [[m|fro|tonne|t=tun, cask]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) perhaps from the same source as Old English tunne (see [[tun]]);^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) MWU traces it through Medieval Latin [[m|la-med|tunna|t=barrel]] to a Celtic origin.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A funnel-shaped net for catching birds: probably before 1425 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline, about 1440 in the OED.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The shaft or flue of a chimney (1508), a pipe or tube (1540s) and a funnel are 16th-century senses.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The underground passage is from 1765, about five years after the first modern tunnel was dug, on the Grand Trunk Canal in England;^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) Etymonline dates it from the 1660s.^(Etymonline) The earlier native word for such a passage was [[mine]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) French borrowed the sense back as tunnel in 1878.^(Etymonline) An animal's burrow is also a tunnel.^(AHD)^(Etymonline) The verb, to dig a tunnel, is from 1795,^(Etymonline) and ''tunnel vision'' is a 20th-century phrase.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1440 – a net for birds.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1508 – a chimney flue.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1765 – an underground passage.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1795 – the verb.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An underground passage, especially one for a road or railway through a hill or under water.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # An animal's [[burrow]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(dialect)'' A funnel.^(Collins 2023)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To dig a tunnel, or make a way by digging.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tunneler]]

+ * [[tunnellike]]

+ * [[Chunnel]]

+ * [[subtunnel]]

+ * [[carpal tunnel syndrome]]

+ * [[tunnel disease]]

+ * [[tunnel of love]]

+ * [[tunnel vision]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tun]]

+ * [[ton]]

+ * [[tonnage]]

+ * [[funnel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}