Etymology

jail

J8A1I1L1

Today it means: A place or institution for the confinement of persons held against their will in lawful custody or detention, especially (in US usage) a place where people are held for minor offenses or with reference to some future judicial proceeding. Full definition →

Middle English gayole ← Anglo-Norman jaiole ← Late Latin caveola
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*ḱewh₁-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*ḱowh₁ós?
  3. Proto-Italic*kawos
  4. Latincavus
  5. Latin*caveus
  6. Latincavea
  7. Late Latincaveola
  8. Anglo-Normanjaiole
  9. Middle Englishgayole
  10. English todayjail

Inherited from Middle English gayole, borrowed from Anglo-Norman jaiole, from Late Latin caveola, from Latin cavea (“cage”) + -ola (diminutive ending). Doublet of caveola and related to cage. More at cajole. Fully displaced native Middle English quartern (“prison, jail, cell”), from Old English cweartern (“jail, prison”). Partially displaced native Middle English lok, from Old English loc (“enclosure, pen; jail, prison”), whence lock; and Middle English carcern, from Old English carcern, from Latin carcer (“prison, jail”). Compare these Old English words, all meaning “jail”: heaþor, heolstorloca (means also “jail cell”), clūstorloc, dung (also “dungeon”), hlinræced, nirwþ, nīedcleofa, hearmloca, and nearu.

Words from the same roots

Middle Englishgayole all →

gaol

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.