CABIN

cabin, a small, roughly built hut or shelter; the term is particularly applied to the thatched mud cottages of the negro slaves of the southern states of the unites states of america, or of the poverty-stricken peasantry of ireland or the crofter districts of scotland. in a special sense it is used of the small rooms or compartments on board a vessel used for sleeping, eating or other accommodation. the word in its earlier english forms was _cabane_ or _caban_, and thus seems to be an adaptation of the french _cabane_; the french have taken _cabine_, for the room on board a ship, from the english. in french and other romanic languages, in which the word occurs, _e.g._ spanish _cabana_, portuguese _cabana_, the origin is usually found in the medieval latin _capanna_. isidore of seville (_origines_, lib. xiv. 12) says:--_tugurium_ (hut) _parva casula est, quam faciunt sibi custodes vinearum, ad tegimen seu quasi tegurium. hoc rustici capannam vocant, quod unum tantum capiat_ (see du cange, _glossarium_, s.v. _capanna_). others derive from greek [greek: kape], crib, manger. skeat considers the english word was taken from the welsh _caban_, rather than from the french, and that the original source for all the forms was celtic.