cavannus

cavannus

Latin

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kaːˈu̯an.nus/, [käːˈu̯änːʊs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kaˈvan.nus/, [käˈvänːus]

Noun

cāvannus m (genitive cāvannī); second declension

1. (Late Latin, Gaul) tawny owl
   • lived ca. 380 CE - ca. 449 CE, 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]

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cāvannus	cāvannī
Genitive	cāvannī	cāvannōrum
Dative	cāvannō	cāvannīs
Accusative	cāvannum	cāvannōs
Ablative	cāvannō	cāvannīs
Vocative	cāvanne	cāvannī

Descendants

• Old French: chavan
  • Middle French: chavan
  • Angevin: chahon, chohon, chéhon, choin
  • Berrichon: chavon
  • Norman: cahouain (Jèrriais)
  • Picard: cavan
  • Poitevin: chaon
  • Saintongeais: chavan
  • Tourangeau: chaon
• 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

1. Matasović, Ranko (2009), “kawanno-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 196
2. Adams, J. N. (2007) The regional diversification of Latin 200 BC - AD 600‎, page 251