caverna

See also: cavērna and cavernă

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin caverna.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Barcelona):

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Noun

caverna f (plural cavernes)

1. cavern

Related terms

• cavernós

Further reading

• “caverna”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “caverna”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “caverna” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “caverna” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin caverna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛr.na/
• Rhymes: -ɛrna
• Hyphenation: ca‧vèr‧na

Noun

caverna f (plural caverne)

1. cave, cavern

Related terms

• cavernoso

Further reading

• caverna in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• cavarne

Latin

Etymology

From cavus (“hollow, excavated, concave”).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kaˈwɛr.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kaˈvɛr.na]

Noun

caverna f (genitive cavernae); first declension

1. a hollow, cavity, cave, cavern, grotto, hole
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 8.420:

     striduntque cauernis / stricturae Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat

     Chalybian ores hiss in the caverns, and from the furnace mouths puff the hot-panting fires

   1. a vault, chamber, cleft of heaven
   2. a hold (cargo compartment of a ship)
   3. (vulgar, euphemistic) bodily orifice
      • c. 310 CE – c. 394 CE, Ausonius, Epigrams 79 Subscriptum Picturae Mulieris impudicae:

        Crispa tamen cunctas exercet corpore in uno: deglubit, fellat, molitur per utramque cavernam, ne quid inexpertum frustra moritura relinquat.

        Crispa, however, practises them all with one body: she masturbates, fellates, and is worked at either hole, lest she should die in vain leaving anything untried.

This entry needs quotations to illustrate usage. If you come across any interesting, durably archived quotes, then please add them!

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	caverna	cavernae
genitive	cavernae	cavernārum
dative	cavernae	cavernīs
accusative	cavernam	cavernās
ablative	cavernā	cavernīs
vocative	caverna	cavernae

Derived terms

• cavernātim (adverb)
• cavernō (verb)
• cavernōsus (adjective)
• cavernula (diminutive)

Related terms

• cavātus
• cavō
• cavōsitās
• cavum aedium
• cavus

Descendants

Descendants

• → Catalan: caverna
• → Galician: caverna
• → Italian: caverna
• → Old French: caverne
  • Middle French: caverne
    • French: caverne
    • → Middle English: caverne
      • English: cavern
• → Portuguese: caverna
• → Romanian: cavernă
• → Russian: каве́рна (kavérna)
• → Spanish: caverna

References

• “caverna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “caverna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “caverna”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛʁ.nɐ/ [kaˈvɛɦ.nɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛʁ.nɐ/ [kaˈvɛɦ.nɐ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛɾ.nɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛʁ.nɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛɻ.na/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈvɛɾ.nɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈvɛɾ.nɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈbɛɾ.nɐ/ [kɐˈβɛɾ.nɐ]

• Hyphenation: ca‧ver‧na

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin caverna.

Noun

caverna f (plural cavernas)

1. cave
2. (nautical) rib (part of a ship’s framework)

   Synonym: costela

Derived terms

• caverna-mestra
• cavername
• cavernoso

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

caverna

1. inflection of cavernar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “caverna”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “caverna”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Romanian

Noun

caverna f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of cavernă