dongeoun

Middle English

Alternative forms

• dongeon, dongoun, dongyn, donjon, donjoun, donjown, donjoune, donyon, doungoun, downgeon, dunchone, dungeon

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French donjon (“main residence of a castle, fortified tower”). 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, may have been influenced by the etymologically unrelated Old English dung (“underground prison cell”). An early manuscript (c1300) of the Middle English poem A disputacion bytwene þe bodi and þe soule uses the word "donge" in the same line, cited below, where the later Vernon manuscript (c. 1380-1400) uses the word "dungoun" ("Þe erþe hemsulf it lek aȝeyn, Anon þe donge it was fordit").

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dunˈdʒuːn/, /ˈdundʒun/

Noun

dongeoun

1. A castle; a great fortification.
2. The keep or donjon of a castle.
3. A dungeon; an underground prison.
   • c. 1325 – 1390, A disputacion bytwene þe bodi and þe soule , (Vernon manuscript):

     The eorthe closede hit self aȝeyn, And the dungoun was for-dit.

4. (figurative) An abyssal prison, such as Hell or the world.
5. (rare) A rough dwelling or refuge.
6. (rare) A pit; an abyss.
7. (rare) A whirlpool or vortex.

Related terms

• dingle

Descendants

• English: dungeon, donjon
• Scots: dungeon

Further reading

• “dǒnǧǒun, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.