- This is about European castles. For other uses see Dungeon (disambiguation)
A dungeon is a place where prisoners are kept. In the past, it used to double as the keep.
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Etymology
The word dungeon was derived from the Old French donjon, which came from the Latin dominus, "lord". However, in French the term donjon means "keep" (a form of tower), and the term oubliette or cachot (a form of prison) is a more appropriate translation of the English "dungeon". This word is a false friend.
History
In its original medieval usage, the dungeon was the keep, the main tower of a castle which formed the final defensive position the garrison could retreat to when outer fortifications were overcome. It was also a safe, if not comfortable, place to keep prisoners. Once more luxurious housing for the lord of the castle was constructed, the dungeon was used mainly for this purpose. Its meaning has evolved over time to also mean an underground prison or burial vault, typically built underneath a castle. In 1613, Anton Praetorius described the terrible situation of the prisoners in the dungeons in his book Gründlicher Bericht über Zauberei und Zauberer (Thorough Report about Wizardry and Wizards).
Features
Although many real dungeons are simply a single plain room with a heavy door or with access only from a hatchway or trapdoor in the floor of the room above, the use of dungeons for torture, along with their association to common human fears of being trapped underground, have made dungeons a powerful metaphor in a variety of contexts.
