# donjon
## English
### Etymology

A variant of dungeon remodelled on its etymon, Old French donjon.

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈdɒn.d͡ʒən/
* Audio (Southern England):noicon(file)
* (US, Canada) IPA: /ˈdɑn.d͡ʒən/
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈdɔn.d͡ʒən/

### Noun

donjon (plural donjons)
* The fortified tower and main residence of a motte or early castle; a keep.
** 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume II, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 106:It was a fortress of no great size, consisting of a donjon, or large and high square tower, surrounded by buildings of inferior height, which were encircled by an inner court-yard.
** 2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre, published 2008, page 132:[…] the prison fortress called Qomr, a mound of yellowish brick rising up from the left back of the turbid river, in whose donjon by long tradition the warlord was obliged to lay his head.

#### Related terms

* dungeon

#### Translations
## Dutch
### Etymology

From French donjon.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dɔnˈʒɔn/, [dɔ̃ˈʒɔ̃], [dɔnˈʒɔn]
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: don‧jon
* Rhymes: -ɔn

### Noun

donjon m (plural donjons, diminutive donjonnetje n)
* donjon, keep

#### Synonyms

* slottoren

## French
### Etymology

From Old French donjon, from Vulgar Latin *dominiōnem.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /dɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

donjon m (plural donjons)
* donjon, keep

#### Descendants

* → Dutch: donjon
* → Italian: dongione
* → Romanian: donjon

### References

* “donjon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Middle English
### Noun

donjon
* Alternative form of dongeoun

## Old French
### Alternative forms

* dognon, doignon, dongnon, dougnon (/duˈɲun/)
* doinjon, doion, dojon, donion
* donjoun, donjun, dounggeon, doungeon, doungeoun, dunjon, dunjun
* dongon, dongoun, dongun, dungon, dungoun, dungun, dangon (⟨g⟩ /d͡ʒ/)
* dangon, dangun, danjun, donjan, doungin

### Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *dominiōnem. Attested in Old French from ca. 1160. Compare Old Occitan domnhon.
Sense 2 probably a semantic loan from Old English dung (“prison, dungeon”).

### Pronunciation

* (classical) IPA: /dunˈd͡ʒun/
* (late) IPA: /dunˈʒun/

### Noun

donjon oblique singular, m (oblique plural donjons, nominative singular donjons, nominative plural donjon)
* keep, donjon
** 12th Century, Béroul, Tristan et Iseut:Li chiens gardoit par le donjon / Qar mis estoit a grant freor / Quant il ne voiet son seignor.The dog looked through the keep, for he felt a great terror when he couldn't see his master.
* (Anglo-Norman) keep used as a prison; dungeon

#### Descendants

* French: donjon (see there for further descendants)
* Picard: donjôn (Athois)
* → Middle English: dongeoun
** English: dungeon, donjon
** Scots: dungeon
* → Medieval Latin: dominiōnus

### References

* donjun on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
* “donjon”, in DEAF: Dictionnaire Étymologique de l'Ancien Français, Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1968-.
* ↑ Etymology and history of “donjon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
* ↑ “dungeon, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French donjon.

### Noun

donjon n (plural donjoane)
* donjon