English
cavea
Cavea comes from Latin cavea ‘hollow, cavity’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *kawos.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kawosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavus‘hollow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CE*caveusreconstructed
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavea‘hollow, cavity’
- Englishearliest quotation 1895same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*kawosreconstructed
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavus‘hollow’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CE*caveusreconstructed
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcavea‘hollow, cavity’
- Englishearliest quotation 1895same form
Earliest quotation: 1895, The Annual of the British School at Athe: “Vitruvius, in writing that colonnades are desirable above theatres,…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁- ‘to swell’
church, kirk, hound, cyst, cumulus, cajole, 37 more
through Proto-Italic *kawos
through Latin cavus ‘hollow’
excavation, cavity, concave, cavern, excavate, cavil, 13 more
through Latin *caveus
through Latin cavea ‘hollow, cavity’
Today it means
noun The seating section of a Greek or Roman theatre or amphitheatre.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Italic *kawos / cavea