Etymology
Bunker is a relatively recent addition to the English language to describe a military structure. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a bunker is a "A military dug-out; a reinforced concrete shelter" and its first use was 13 October 1939 "A Nazi field gun hidden in a cemented 'bunker' on the Western front" (War Pictorial). The word is German in origin and was used by the Germans to describe bombproof shelters both above ground as in Hochbunker and below ground as in the Führerbunker. All the early references to its usage in the Oxford English Dictionary are to German fortifications. By 1947 the word was familiar enough in English that Hugh Trevor-Roper in The Last Days of Hitler was describing Hitler's underground complex near the Reich Chancellery as "Hitler's own bunker" without quotes around the word bunker.
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Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
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