Dolmen

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈdəʊ̯l.mən/

Definitions

1. A megalithic construction made of large upright stones capped by a flat stone, often associated with ancient burial rituals and ceremonial practices in prehistoric cultures
2. These ancient stone formations, featuring vertical stones supporting a horizontal slab, commonly functioned as burial sites and held significance in prehistoric community traditions
3. A prehistoric structure composed of massive vertical stones topped with a flat stone, typically serving as a burial site and having cultural importance in ancient societies

Etymology: The stone tombs known as dolmens take their name from a French coinage, but nobody is sure what the French coiners were building from. The most widely repeated theory links it to Breton "taol maen", meaning "table stone", which fits the flat capstone resting on upright supports. Specialists doubt this, because the grammatically correct Breton compound would have come out as "taolvaen", not the form the French word appears to echo. A rival theory looks to Cornish instead. It proposes "tolmen", from "toll" (hole) and "men" (stone), pointing to the Cornish standing stones called Men an Toll, which have a hole through them. The Breton and Cornish languages are close relatives, so both explanations are plausible, and the French word was borrowed into English from that source. Neither theory has been settled, so the word's exact construction remains open.