cavannus

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Gaulish *cawannos, from Proto-Celtic *kuwannos (“owl”), probably imitative in origin.[1]

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.[2]
    • 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.[3]

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

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.
  1. Matasović, Ranko (2009) “kawanno-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 196
  2. Adams, J. N. (2007) The regional diversification of Latin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 251
  3. Adams, J. N. (2007) The regional diversification of Latin, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 251
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