2006-12-07 05:20:35 · 5 answers · asked by hyphys 1 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Other - Cars & Transportation
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tunnel (n.)
c.1440, "funnel-shaped net for catching birds," from M.Fr. tonnelle "net," or tonel "cask," dim. of O.Fr. tonne "tun, cask for liquids," possibly from the same source as O.E. tunne (see tun). Sense of "tube, pipe" (1545) developed in Eng. and led to sense of "underground passage," which is first attested 1765, about five years after the first modern tunnel was built (on the Grand Trunk Canal in England). This sense subsequently has been borrowed into Mod.Fr. (1878). The earlier native word for this was mine. Meaning "burrow of an animal" is from 1873. The verb meaning "excavate underground" is first attested 1795. Tunnel vision first recorded 1949. The fig. phrase light at the end of the tunnel is attested from 1922.
2006-12-07 05:29:41 · answer #1 · answered by Peter Boiter Woods 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The word tunnel?
c.1440, "funnel-shaped net for catching birds," from M.Fr. tonnelle "net," or tonel "cask," dim. of O.Fr. tonne "tun, cask for liquids," possibly from the same source as O.E. tunne (see tun). Sense of "tube, pipe" (1545) developed in Eng. and led to sense of "underground passage," which is first attested 1765, about five years after the first modern tunnel was built (on the Grand Trunk Canal in England). This sense subsequently has been borrowed into Mod.Fr. (1878). The earlier native word for this was mine. Meaning "burrow of an animal" is from 1873. The verb meaning "excavate underground" is first attested 1795. Tunnel vision first recorded 1949. The fig. phrase light at the end of the tunnel is attested from 1922.
Specific tunnels?
Most are named after a person or a place.
2006-12-07 13:42:19 · answer #2 · answered by Idaho 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Everyone left out the obselete useage of the word.
Dictionary
tun·nel (tÅn'Él)
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[Middle English tonel, tubular net, from Old French tonnelle diminutive of tonne, tun, possibly of Celtic origin.]
noun
An underground or underwater passage.
A passage through or under a barrier.
Obsolete The main flue on a chimney.
2006-12-07 14:21:32 · answer #3 · answered by oklatom 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because the first guy who dug one, hung a tunnel sign over it....so from that time forward a tunnel was called a tunnel...your welcome
2006-12-07 13:24:15 · answer #4 · answered by blueman2 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Earl of tunn named it in 1427...
2006-12-07 13:41:02 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋