camera (English)

Where does "camera" come from?

The English word 'camera' is a learned borrowing from Latin 'camera' meaning 'chamber or bedchamber'[1]. The Latin term descends from Ancient Greek 'καμάρα' meaning 'anything with an arched cover, a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber, or a vault'[1][2]. This ancient Greek word is likely an Old Iranian borrowing originating from Proto-Iranian '*kamarā-' meaning 'something curved', which traces back to Proto-Indo-Iranian '*kmárati' and ultimately to Proto-Indo-European '*kh₂em-' meaning 'to bend or curve'[1]. The modern sense referring to a photographic device developed as a clipping of the New Latin phrase 'camera obscura' meaning 'dark chamber', because early photographic devices utilized a dark room and pinhole[1].

Open questions

The derivation of the Ancient Greek word from Old Iranian is considered possible rather than certain. [1] [3]

Full etymology tree

camera (English), 'A device for taking still or moving pictures or photographs.'
- learned borrowing camera (Latin), 'A chamber in its various senses, including:'
  - derived καμάρα (kamára) (Ancient Greek), 'anything with an arched cover such as a covered carriage or boat, a vaulted chamber; vault, span'
- clipping camera obscura (English), 'A darkened chamber in which the image of an outside object is projected and focused onto a surface.'
  - borrowed camera obscura (New Latin)

Ancestors

*kh₂em- (Proto-Indo-European)
camera (Latin)
καμάρα (Ancient Greek)

Cognates and doublets

chamber (English)

Descendants and derived words

caméra (French)
كاميرا (Arabic)
কেমেৰা (Assamese)
ক্যামেরা (Bengali)
ကင်မရာ (Burmese)
càmera (Catalan)
aerial camera (English)
aerocamera (English)
Anger camera (English)
backup camera (English)
Baker-Nunn camera (English)
body camera (English)

Related words

Sources

Updated October 2026

More words starting with C

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris