Sun, 12 Jul 2026 19:12:32 EDT
Camera
The noun camera is a Latin borrowing. The Latin camera means a chamber. Chamber also derives from the Latin camera. The Latin camera is a ancient Greek borrowing. The ancient Greek kamàra names something with an arched covering such as a boat, carriage, or a domed room.
The modern sense of camera as a device to take pictures is an elision of the Latin camera obscura, which means dark room. The first cameras admitted light via a pinhole in one wall onto the opposite wall of a dark room. This caused an inverted image of the scene outside the room to be projected onto the wall.