English

Proper noun

Avernus

1. The entrance to **** or the underworld, or the underworld itself.
2. A lake in Southern Italy.

Translations

Latin

Etymology

Ancient Greek ἄορνος ‎(áornos), ἄϝορνος ‎(áwornos, “birdless”), from ἀ- ‎(a-, “without”) + ὄρνις ‎(órnis, “bird”). The lack of birds was likely due to fatal gases like carbon dioxide seeping from the volcanically active lake.

View of the lake

Proper noun

Avernus m ‎(genitive Avernī); second declension

1. Avernus (lake in Southern Italy)
2. The underworld

Inflection

Second declension, with locative.

Derived terms

• Avernālis

Descendants

• English: Avernus
• Italian: Averno

References

• Avernus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Avernus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “Avernus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.