dolmen

Where does the word "dolmen" come from? It comes from Cornish tolmen, passing through French before entering English (1850s).

Dolmen’s story begins in Cornish: tolmen meant “holed stone.” 'hole of stone', used for holed stones such as the Men-an-Tol in west Cornwall; one proposed source of 'dolmen'. By 1796, the word had taken hold in French as dolmen. Used by Théophile-Malo de La Tour d'Auvergne, a Breton-born officer and antiquary, for megalithic 'stone tables', perhaps also thinking of Breton taol 'table' + men 'stone'. It reached English by 1850s as dolmen. Taken from French archaeology; Ireland's Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren is over 5,000 years old. Today, dolmen means a prehistoric tomb of upright stones capped by a large flat stone.

1. Stage 1 · Cornish · medieval tolmen "holed stone", 'hole of stone', used for holed stones such as the Men-an-Tol in west Cornwall; one proposed source of 'dolmen'.
2. Stage 2 · French · 1796 dolmen "megalithic tomb", used by Théophile-Malo de La Tour d'Auvergne, a Breton-born officer and antiquary, for megalithic 'stone tables', perhaps also thinking of Breton taol 'table' + men 'stone'.
3. Stage 3 · English · 1850s dolmen "prehistoric stone tomb", taken from French archaeology; Ireland's Poulnabrone dolmen in the Burren is over 5,000 years old.