spēlaeum

1. Specus and caverna are cavities, whether under-ground, or on a level with the ground,—consequently, a species of antrum; spelunca and spelæum, cavities with a perpendicular opening, leading up into a mountain; scrobs, fovea, and favissa, pits with an horizontal opening, leading down into the earth. 2. Specus (σπέος) is a gap, with a longish opening; caverna (from κύαρ) a hole, with a round opening. 3. Spelunca (σπήλυγξ) is a cavity, in a merely physical relation, with reference to its darkness and dreadfulness; antrum (ἄντρον) a grotto, as a beautiful object, with reference to its romantic appearance and cooling temperature; lastly, spelæum (σπήλαιον) is used only by the poets, as the abode and lurking-hole of wild beasts. 4. Fovea (from φύειν) is a pit meant to remain open, or only covered in order to keep in or to catch a wild beast; scrobs, a pit meant to be filled up again, and only dug, in order to bury something, the root of a tree, for instance, or a corpse. (v. 140.)