Q: I recently came across the use of “donjon” for an inner tower of a castle. I assume the word is somehow related to “dungeon.”
A: Yes, both English words, “donjon” and “dungeon,” are derived from an Anglo-Norman term for a keep, or fortified tower, in the inner court of a castle.
In fact, they were once variants of the same word. Today “donjon” refers to the tower, while “dungeon” means an underground prison in the tower or a similar place.
Here’s how they developed.
The Anglo-Norman word (spelled donjun, dongon, dongoun, etc.) ultimately comes from the classical Latin domnus, a shortened form of dominus (lord), according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
When “donjon” first appeared in Middle English writing in the 14th century, it had both meanings—the tower as well as the underground prison.
Here’s the OED’s tower definition:
“A large fortified tower, esp. the great tower or keep of a castle, typically located in the innermost court or bailey, and used as a secure place of refuge, retreat, or imprisonment.”
The OED’s earliest citation for this tower sense, with the term spelled “donioun,” is from a mythical Middle English tale in which the Roman poet Virgil uses black magic to put a man made of brass atop a castle keep:
“Þer biside on o donioun / He kest a man of cler latoun” (“there not far away upon a donjon, he cast a man of bright brass”). From The Seven Sages of Rome, Middle English stories written around 1330.
The dictionary defines the prison sense of “donjon” as “a (small) secure cell, underground chamber, or pit for the confinement of prisoners, esp. in the keep of a castle.”
Oxford’s first citation for this sense is from a medieval homily in which a pilgrim’s soul is imprisoned by Satan, then rescued by St. James and the Virgin Mary:
“His sawel es broht til a donjoun, / Thar it wit outen end sal lend” (“His soul is brought to a dungeon, there without end it shall dwell”). From Northern Homily: Pilgrim of St. James, dated at sometime before 1400, but believed composed around 1300.
The words “donjon” and “dungeon” eventually diverged, as the different spellings took on their different meanings in early modern English.
Finally, the OED notes that the term is now used in fantasy role-playing games, especially Dungeons & Dragons, to mean “any enclosed environment, most typically a complex of underground vaults, tunnels, etc., in which players seek rewards and face dangers.”
The OED’s earliest role-playing example, which we’ve expanded, is from the original 1974 D&D rules, written by the game’s designers, Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson:
“A good dungeon will have no less than a dozen levels down, with offshoot levels in addition, and new levels under construction so that players will never grow tired of it.”
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