dungeon

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English dongeoun (“main tower of a castle; subterranean prison, dungeon, abyss; cave or den; whirlpool”), which was borrowed from Old French donjon (“keep of a castle; keep used as a prison, dungeon”),[1][2][3][4][5] from Vulgar Latin *dominiōnem (“main tower”), derived from Latin dominus (“master, lord”). Doublet of donjon.

For the development of the sense "underground cell below the keep of a castle", first attested in Anglo-Norman (13th c.) and not in other varieties of Old French, compare the unrelated[6] Old English dung (“underground prison cell”). An early manuscript (c1300) of the Middle English poem A disputacion bytwene þe bodi and þe soule contains the lines "Þe erþe hemsulf it lek aȝeyn, Anon þe donge it was fordit" which are replaced in the later Vernon manuscript (c1390) by "The eorthe closede hit self aȝeyn, And the dungoun was for-dit."[7]

The game term has been popularized by Dungeons & Dragons.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

dungeon (plural dungeons)

  1. An underground prison or vault, typically built underneath a castle.
  2. The low area between two drumlins.
  3. (obsolete) The main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon.
  4. (obsolete) A shrewd person.
  5. (games) An area inhabited by enemies, containing story objectives, treasure, and bosses.
  6. (BDSM) A room dedicated to sadomasochistic sexual activity.

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

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dungeon (third-person singular simple present dungeons, present participle dungeoning, simple past and past participle dungeoned)

  1. (transitive) To imprison in a dungeon.
    • 1830, William Cobbett, History of the Regency and Reign of King George the Fourth:
      Of every act of severity, of every bold violation of the constitution, of every bill for dungeoning and gagging the people, of every tax, of every loan, of all that set frugality at defiance, and that mocked at mercy, these men had been either the authors or the most strenuous supporters […]

References

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  1. ^ “dungeon, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  2. ^ “dǒnǧǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ^ Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “*dominio”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 3: D–F, page 130: “Engl. dungeon, piem. dongion sind dem gallorom. entlehnt...”
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster. 1991. The Merriam-Webster new book of word histories. Springfield: Merriam-Webster. Page 152.
  5. ^ Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “dungeon”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
  6. ^ “dungeon, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
  7. ^ Bishop, Chris (2019) “Our own dark hearts: re-evaluating the medieval dungeon”, in Journal of the Australian Early Medieval Association‎[1], volume 15

Middle English

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Noun

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dungeon

  1. Alternative form of dongeoun
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