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This is about European castles. For other uses see Dungeon (disambiguation)
Dungeon (disambiguation)

A dungeon is an underground prison or vault.Dungeon or donjon can also refer to* Dungeon , a series of comic books created by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim, originally published under the French title Donjon....


A dungeon is a place where prisoner
Prisoner

Prisoner may refer to one of the following:* A person incarcerated in a prison, jail, or similar facility* Prisoner of war, a soldier in wartime, held as by an enemy...
s are kept. In the past, it used to double as the keep
Keep

A keep is a strong central tower which is used as a dungeon or a fortress. Often, the keep is the most defended area of a castle, and as such may form the main Human habitat area, or contain important stores such as the Armory , food, and the main water well, which would ensure survival during a siege....
.

word dungeon was derived from the Old French
Old French

Old French was the Romance languages dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300....
 donjon, which came from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 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".






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This is about European castles. For other uses see Dungeon (disambiguation)
Dungeon (disambiguation)

A dungeon is an underground prison or vault.Dungeon or donjon can also refer to* Dungeon , a series of comic books created by Joann Sfar and Lewis Trondheim, originally published under the French title Donjon....


A dungeon is a place where prisoner
Prisoner

Prisoner may refer to one of the following:* A person incarcerated in a prison, jail, or similar facility* Prisoner of war, a soldier in wartime, held as by an enemy...
s are kept. In the past, it used to double as the keep
Keep

A keep is a strong central tower which is used as a dungeon or a fortress. Often, the keep is the most defended area of a castle, and as such may form the main Human habitat area, or contain important stores such as the Armory , food, and the main water well, which would ensure survival during a siege....
.

Etymology

The word dungeon was derived from the Old French
Old French

Old French was the Romance languages dialect continuum spoken in territories which span roughly the northern half of modern France and parts of modern Belgium and Switzerland from around 1000 to 1300....
 donjon, which came from the Latin
Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
 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
False friend

False friends are pairs of words in two languages or dialects that look and/or sound similar, but differ in meaning.False cognates, by contrast, are similar words in different languages that appear to have a common historical linguistic origin but actually do not....
.

History

In its original medieval usage, the dungeon was the keep
Keep

A keep is a strong central tower which is used as a dungeon or a fortress. Often, the keep is the most defended area of a castle, and as such may form the main Human habitat area, or contain important stores such as the Armory , food, and the main water well, which would ensure survival during a siege....
, the main tower
Tower

Towers are tall human-made structures that are always taller than they are wide, usually by a significant margin. Towers are generally built to take advantage of their height, and can stand alone or as part of a larger structure....
 of a castle
Castle

A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territor...
 which formed the final defensive position the garrison
Garrison

Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, of more than 50 men, but now often simply using it as a home base....
 could retreat to when outer fortification
Fortification

Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defense in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs....
s 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
Prison

A prison, penitentiary, or correctional facility is a place in which individuals are physically confined or internment and usually deprived of a range of personal Freedom ....
 or burial vault
Burial vault

Burrial vault may refer to:*Burial vault , protective coffin enclosure*Burial vault , underground tomb...
, typically built underneath a castle
Castle

A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. The term has a history of scholarly debate surrounding its exact meaning, but it is usually regarded as being distinct from the general terms fort or fortress in that it describes a residence of a monarch or noble and commands a specific defensive territor...
.

In 1613, Anton Praetorius
Anton Praetorius

Anton Praetorius was a Germany Calvinism pastor who spoke out against the persecution of witches and against torture....
 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
Trapdoor

A trapdoor is a door set into a floor or ceiling . An exposed trapdoor could also be called a hatch, although hatches may not be necessarily horizontal....
 in the floor of the room above, the use of dungeons for torture
Torture

Torture, according to the United Nations Convention Against Torture, is:In addition to state-sponsored torture, individuals or groups may be motivated to inflict torture on others for similar reasons to those of a state; however, the motive for torture can also be for the sadism gratification of the torturer, as was the case in the Moors M...
, along with their association to common human fears of being trapped underground, have made dungeons a powerful metaphor
Metaphor

Metaphor is language that directly compares seemingly unrelated subjects. It is a figure of speech that compares two or more things without using the words "like" or "as." More generally, a metaphor describes a first subject as being or equal to a second object in some way....
 in a variety of contexts.

Modern criminal individuals who have built dungeons

  • John Jamelske
    John Jamelske

    John T. Jamelske is an United States serial rape-kidnapping who, from 1988 to his apprehension in 2003, kidnapping a series of women and held them captive in a concrete bunker beneath the yard of his home in DeWitt, New York, a suburb of Syracuse, New York, United States....
    , USA
  • John Esposito (Criminal), USA
  • Josef Fritzl, Austria
  • Josh Stannard, England
  • Marc Dutroux
    Marc Dutroux

    Marc Dutroux is a Belgium serial killer and criminal, conviction of having kidnapping, tortured and sexual abuse during 1995 and 1996 six girls, ranging in age from 8 to 19, four of whom he murdered....
    , Belgium
  • Wolfgang Priklopil
    Wolfgang Priklopil

    Wolfgang Priklopil was an Austrian communications technician. He kidnapped the then 10 year old Natascha Kampusch and held her for eight years, committing suicide after she escaped....
    , Austria
  • Viktor Mokhov
    Viktor Mokhov

    Victor Mokhov is a Russian criminal who in 2000 kidnapped 2 girls, 14 and 17 years old, and kept them in a basement for almost 4 years.Mokhov lived in the Russian city of Skopin about 90 km from Ryazan....
    , Russia
  • Blaze Brigade, PLB


See also

  • Oubliette
    Oubliette

    An oubliette was a form of dungeon which was accessible only from a hatch in a high ceiling....