Avernus

Latin Avernus, from Ancient Greek ἄορνος (áornos), ἄϝορνος (áwornos, “birdless”), from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”). The lack of birds was likely due to fatal gases like carbon dioxide seeping from the volcanically active lake.

Avernus

1. The entrance to Hell or the underworld, or the underworld itself.
2. A lake in Southern Italy.

Ancient Greek ἄορνος (áornos), ἄϝορνος (áwornos, “birdless”), from ἀ- (a-, “without”) + ὄρνις (órnis, “bird”). The lack of birds was likely due to fatal gases like carbon dioxide seeping from the volcanically active lake.

View of the lake

Avernus m (genitive Avernī); second declension

1. Avernus (lake in Southern Italy)
2. The underworld

Second declension, with locative.

• Avernālis

• English: Avernus
• Italian: Averno

• Avernus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Avernus in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Avernus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette