spelunca

Latin

Etymology

Cognate with Ancient Greek σπῆλῠγξ (spêlŭnx).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [speːˈɫʊŋ.ka]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [speˈluŋ.ka]

Noun

spēlunca f (genitive spēluncae); first declension

1. cave; cavern; chasm

   Synonym: specus

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.60–61:

     Sed pater omnipotēns spēluncīs abdidit ātrīs,
     hoc metuēns, [...].

     But the all-powerful Father [Jupiter] had hidden [the winds] in dark caverns, [because he was] fearing this [destruction], [...].

2. grotto
3. den
   • Biblia Sacra, Matthaeus XXI.XIII:

     "Scrīptum est", inquit eīs: "Domus mea domus supplicātiōnis vocābitur: at vōs ex ea fēcistis spēluncam latrōnum"

     "It is written", he said to them: "my house will be called a house of prayer: but you have made a den of thieves from it"

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	spēlunca	spēluncae
genitive	spēluncae	spēluncārum
dative	spēluncae	spēluncīs
accusative	spēluncam	spēluncās
ablative	spēluncā	spēluncīs
vocative	spēlunca	spēluncae

Descendants

• → Dutch: spelonk
• → English: spelunk
• Franco-Provençal: espèlonca
• Old French: espelonche
• → French: spélonque
• Galician: espenuca
• → German: Spelunke
• Italian: spelonca
• Occitan: espelonga
• → Polish: spelunka, speluna
• Portuguese: espelunca
• Spanish: espelunca
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *spelūca
  • Aragonese: espluga, espluca, esplluga
  • Catalan: espluga
  • Occitan: espeluga, espuga (Gascon), espeluca (Provençal),

References

• “spelunca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “spelunca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "spelunca", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “spelunca”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “spelunca”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly