donjon

English

Etymology

A variant of dungeon remodelled on its etymon, Old French donjon.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdɒn.d͡ʒən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈdɑn.d͡ʒən/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈdɔn.d͡ʒən/

Noun

donjon (plural donjons)

1. The fortified tower and main residence of a motte or early castle; a keep.
   • 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 106:

     It was a fortress of no great size, consisting of a donjon, or large and high square tower, surrounded by buildings of inferior height, which were encircled by an inner court-yard.

   • 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 132:

     […] the prison fortress called Qomr, a mound of yellowish brick rising up from the left back of the turbid river, in whose donjon by long tradition the warlord was obliged to lay his head.

Related terms

• dungeon

Translations

fortified tower — see keep

Dutch

Etymology

From French donjon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔnˈʒɔn/, [dɔ̃ˈʒɔ̃], [dɔnˈʒɔn]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: don‧jon
• Rhymes: -ɔn

Noun

donjon m (plural donjons, diminutive donjonnetje n)

1. donjon, keep

Synonyms

• slottoren

French

Etymology

From Old French donjon, from Vulgar Latin *dominiōnem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

donjon m (plural donjons)

1. donjon, keep

Descendants

• → Dutch: donjon
• → Italian: dongione
• → Romanian: donjon

References

• “donjon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Noun

donjon

1. Alternative form of dongeoun

Old French

Alternative forms

Alternative forms

• dognon, doignon, dongnon, dougnon (/duˈɲun/)
• doinjon, doion, dojon, donion
• donjoun, donjun, dounggeon, doungeon, doungeoun, dunjon, dunjun
• dongon, dongoun, dongun, dungon, dungoun, dungun, dangon (⟨g⟩ /d͡ʒ/)
• dangon, dangun, danjun, donjan, doungin

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *dominiōnem. Attested in Old French from ca. 1160. Compare Old Occitan domnhon.

Sense 2 probably a semantic loan from Old English dung (“prison, dungeon”).

Pronunciation

• (classical) IPA^(key): /dunˈd͡ʒun/
• (late) IPA^(key): /dunˈʒun/

Noun

donjon oblique singular, m (oblique plural donjons, nominative singular donjons, nominative plural donjon)

1. keep, donjon
   • 12^th Century, Béroul, Tristan et Iseut:

     Li chiens gardoit par le donjon / Qar mis estoit a grant freor / Quant il ne voiet son seignor.

     The dog looked through the keep, for he felt a great terror when he couldn't see his master.

2. (Anglo-Norman) keep used as a prison; dungeon

Descendants

• French: donjon (see there for further descendants)
• Picard: donjôn (Athois)
• → Middle English: dongeoun
  • English: dungeon, donjon
  • Scots: dungeon
• → Medieval Latin: dominiōnus

References

• donjun on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
• “donjon”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French donjon.

Noun

donjon n (plural donjoane)

1. donjon

Declension

Declension of donjon

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	donjon	donjonul		donjoane	donjoanele
genitive-dative	donjon	donjonului		donjoane	donjoanelor
vocative	donjonule			donjoanelor