cavannus

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Gaulish *cawannos, from Proto-Celtic *kuwannos (“owl”), probably imitative in origin.

Noun

cavannus m (genitive cavannī); second declension (Late Latin, Gaul)

1. tawny owl

   Synonyms: ulula, uluccus

   • mid-5th c., Eucherius of Lyon, Instructionum Libri Duo ad Salonium filium 2.9:

     Sunt qui ululas putent aves esse nocturnas, ab ululatu vocis quem efferunt, quas vulgo cavannos dicunt.

     There are those who think that [tawny] owls, popularly called cavanni, are nocturnal birds named from the cry that they produce.

   • 9th c., Unknown, Commenta Bernensia 8.55:

     Ululae: aves de ululatu dictae, cuius deminutivum est uluccus, sicut Itali dicunt; quam avem Galli cavannum nuncupant.

     Ululae: birds named from their cry, the diminutive of which [word] is uluccus, as the Italians say; this bird the Gauls name cavannus.

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cavannus	cavannī
Genitive	cavannī	cavannōrum
Dative	cavannō	cavannīs
Accusative	cavannum	cavannōs
Ablative	cavannō	cavannīs
Vocative	cavanne	cavannī

Descendants

• Old French: chavan
  • Middle French: chavan
  • Angevin: chahon, chohon, chéhon, choin
  • Berrichon: chavon
  • Norman: cahouain (Jèrriais)
  • Picard: cavan
  • Poitevin: chaon
  • Saintongeais: chavan
• Old Occitan: chavan, chauana
  • Occitan: chavant, chavancou
• Zarphatic Old French: javan
  • French: chat-huant

References

• “cavannus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cavannus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.