different between dungeon vs catacomb

English

Etymology

From Middle English dungeon, dungeoun, dongoun, dungoun, dungun (“a castle keep" also, "a prison cell below the castle; a dungeon; pit; abyss”).

The Middle English word is apparently a merger of Old French donjon (“castle keep”) and Old English dung (“a subterranean chamber; a prison; dungeon”), which supplied the current sense of the word. Old French donjon may itself be a conflation of Vulgar Latin *domnione (from Late Latin *domini?nem, from Latin dominium (“lordship; ownership”) and Frankish *dungij? (“prison, dungeon, underground cellar”). Compare Middle English dung, dunge, dong, donge (“pit of hell; abyss”)

Both the Frankish and Old English words derive from Proto-Germanic *dungij? (“an enclosed space; a vault; bower; treasury”), from Proto-Indo-European *d?eng?- (“to cover”), and are related to Old Saxon dung (“underground cellar”), Middle Dutch donc (“underground basement”), Old High German tung (“underground cellar; an underground chamber or apartment for overwintering”) (whence German Tunk (“manure or soil covered basement, underground weaving workshop”)), Old Norse dyngja (“a detached apartment, a lady's bower”); whence Icelandic dyngja (“chamber”)). See also dung, dingle.

The game term has been popularized by Dungeons & Dragons.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?n.d??n/

Noun

dungeon (plural dungeons)

1. An underground prison or vault, typically built underneath a castle.
2. (obsolete) The main tower of a motte or castle; a keep or donjon.
3. (obsolete) A shrewd person.
4. (games) An area inhabited by enemies, containing story objectives, treasure and bosses.
5. (BDSM) A room dedicated to sadomasochistic sexual activity.

Hyponyms

• oubliette

Derived terms

• dungeonable
• instance dungeon
• dungeon crawler
• dungeon master

Translations

Verb

dungeon (third-person singular simple present dungeons, present participle dungeoning, simple past and past participle dungeoned)

1. (transitive) To imprison in a dungeon.

English

Etymology

From Old English [Term?], from Late Latin catacumbas, name of the underground cemetery of St. Sebastian in Rome, dissimilation of Latin cata- (“among”) (from Ancient Greek ???? (katá, “under”)) + tumbas (from Ancient Greek ?????? (túmbos, “swell”)).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kat??k??m/ (less commonly) IPA^(key): /?kat?ku?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?kætako?m/, /?kæt?ku?m/

Noun

catacomb (plural catacombs)

1. (often plural) An underground system of tunnels and chambers with recesses for graves, used (in former times) as a cemetery; a tunnel system used for burying the dead, as in Paris or Ancient Rome.

Translations