Burrow, Catacomb, Cave, Cavern: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Valley, Cave

The natural features of a region are called its topography. The word comes from Greek topos ("place").

English speakers have a long history of inventing (or borrowing from other languages) all sorts of different names for related topographical features.

Valleys and caves, for example, as well as human-made features having similar topographical effects, are known by a wide range of words in English, each with its own unique story to tell.

In the alphabetically arranged presentation of such terms in the current series, the next words are these: burrow, catacomb, cave, and cavern. Here is an overview of their origins, forms, and histories. The dates of first appearance of the forms and meanings are from the Oxford English Dictionary.

Burrow
Modern English burrow (17th century) comes from Middle English borow (14th century). The earlier history of the word is uncertain, but borow may have evolved from early forms of borough ("town"), such as borowe (14th century) and borogh (14th century), which go back to Old English burg ("fortified town, stronghold," before 12th century).

A hole or excavation in the ground made by an animal (such as a rabbit) for shelter and habitation is a burrow (c. 1360).

Catacomb
Modern English catacomb comes from Middle English catacomb (15th century), from Middle French catacombe, probably from Old Italian catacomba, from the Late Latin plural word catacumbae. The earlier history of the word is uncertain, but catacumbae is probably an alteration of (assumed) Vulgar Latin cata tumbus ("near the tombs"), from cata ("near") and tumbus (accusative plural of tumba, "tomb").

A catacomb (usually plural, catacombs) is a subterranean cavelike place for the burial of the dead, consisting of passages with recesses excavated in their sides for tombs.

During the Old English period, the word was occasionally used in English contexts but in a Latin form. The English form evolved during the 15th century from Middle French.

The meaning of the word in English has gone through at least four major stages.

(1) The subterranean cemetery under the Basilica of St. Sebastian on the Appian Way, near Rome, where the bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul were believed to have been placed. This was the only sense of the word catacomb in English from the Old English period through the 16th century.

(2) All subterranean cemeteries in the general area of Rome. These other cemeteries were discovered in 1578, and the reference to them is usually plural, catacombs. In the singular, the word applies to a single crypt or gallery. This sense of catacomb dates from at least 1662.

(3) Similar subterranean cemeteries elsewhere, such as Naples and Egypt (1705).

(4) More widely, any subterranean receptacle of the dead, such as the catacombs of Paris, which are actually converted stone quarries (1836).

Cave
Modern English cave comes from Middle English cave (13th century), which goes back through Old French cave and Latin cava to Latin cavus ("hollow"). The word is akin to Greek koilos ("hollow").

A natural underground chamber or series of chambers open to the surface is a cave (c. 1250).

Cavern
Modern English cavern comes from Middle English caverne (14th century), which goes back through Middle French caverne and Latin caverna to Latin cavus ("hollow").

A cave of large or indefinite extent is a cavern (c. 1374).
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.