dolmen

1859, from Fr. dolmin applied 1796 by Fr. archaeologist Latour d'Auvergne, perhaps from Cornish tolmen "enormous stone slab set up on supporting points," such that a man may walk under it, lit. "hole of stone," from Celt. men "stone." Some suggest the first element may be Bret. taol "table," a loan-word from L. tabula "board, plank," but the Bret. form of this compound would be taolvean. "There is reason to think that this [tolmen] is the word inexactly reproduced by Latour d'Auvergne as dolmin, and misapplied by him and succeeding Fr. archaeologists to the cromlech" [OED]. See cromlech, which is properly an upright flat stone, often arranged as one of a circle.