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almond: almond: [13] The l in almond is a comparatively recent addition; its immediate source, Latin amandula, did not have one (and nor, correspondingly, do French amande, Portuguese amendoa, Italian mandola, or German mandel). But the relative frequency of the prefix al- in Latin-derived words seems to have prompted its grafting on to amandula in its passage from Latin to Old French, giving a hypothetical *almandle and eventually al(e)mande.

French in due course dropped the l, but English acquired the word when it was still there. Going further back in time, the source of amandula was Latin amygdula, of which it was an alteration, and amygdula in turn was borrowed from the Greek word for ‘almond’, amygdálē. The Latin and Greek forms have been reborrowed into English at a much later date in various scientific terms: amygdala, for instance, an almond-shaped mass of nerve tissue in the brain; amygdalin, a glucoside found in bitter almonds; and amygdaloid, a rock with almondshaped cavities.
cell: cell: [12] Cell has branched out a lot over the centuries, but its original meaning seems to be ‘small secluded room’, for it comes ultimately from an Indo-European base *kel-, which is also the source of English conceal, clandestine, and occult. It came into English either via Old French celle or directly from Latin cella ‘small room, storeroom, inner room of a temple’, and at first was used mainly in the sense ‘small subsidiary monastery’.

It is not until the 14th century that we find it being used for small individual apartments within a monastic building, and the development from this to ‘room in a prison’ came as late as the 18th century. In medieval biology the term was applied metaphorically to bodily cavities, and from the 17th century onwards it began to be used in the more modern sense ‘smallest structural unit of an organism’ (the botanist Nehemiah Grew was apparently the first so to use it, in the 1670s).

A late Latin derivative of cella was cellārium ‘group of cells, storeroom’; this was the source of English cellar [13], via Anglo-Norman celer.
=> apocalypse, cellar, clandestine, conceal, hall, hell, hull, occult
atrium (n.): 1570s, from Latin atrium "central court or main room of an ancient Roman house, room which contains the hearth," sometimes said (on authority of Varro, "De Lingua Latina") to be an Etruscan word, but perhaps from PIE *ater- "fire," on notion of "place where smoke from the hearth escapes" (through a hole in the roof). Anatomical sense of "either of the upper cavities of the heart" first recorded 1870. Meaning "skylit central court in a public building" first attested 1967.
cavernous (adj.): c. 1400, "full of caverns," from Latin cavernosus "full of cavities" (source also of Italian cavernoso, French caverneux), from caverna (see cavern). Meaning "hollow" is recorded from 1830.
cell (n.): early 12c., "small monastery, subordinate monastery" (from Medieval Latin in this sense), later "small room for a monk or a nun in a monastic establishment; a hermit's dwelling" (c. 1300), from Latin cella "small room, store room, hut," related to Latin celare "to hide, conceal."

The Latin word represents PIE root *kel- (2) "to cover, conceal" (cognates: Sanskrit cala "hut, house, hall;" Greek kalia "hut, nest," kalyptein "to cover," koleon "sheath," kelyphos "shell, husk;" Latin clam "secret;" Old Irish cuile "cellar," celim "hide," Middle Irish cul "defense, shelter;" Gothic hulistr "covering," Old English heolstor "lurking-hole, cave, covering," Gothic huljan "cover over," hulundi "hole," hilms "helmet," halja "hell," Old English hol "cave," holu "husk, pod").

Sense of monastic rooms extended to prison rooms (1722). Used in 14c., figuratively, of brain "compartments;" used in biology by 17c. of various cavities (wood structure, segments of fruit, bee combs), gradually focusing to the modern sense of "basic structure of living organisms" (which OED dates to 1845).

Electric battery sense is from 1828, based on original form. Meaning "small group of people working within a larger organization" is from 1925. Cell body is from 1851; cell division from 1846; cell membrane from 1837 (but cellular membrane is 1732); cell wall from 1842.
pouch (n.): early 14c., "bag for carrying things," especially (late 14c.) "small bag in which money is carried," from Anglo-French puche, Old North French pouche (13c.), Old French poche "purse, poke," all from a Germanic source (compare Old English pocca "bag;" see poke (n.1)). Extended to cavities in animal bodies from c. 1400.
oedema: "A condition characterized by an excess of watery fluid collecting in the cavities or tissues of the body", Late Middle English: modern Latin, from Greek oidēma, from oidein 'to swell'.
mediastinum: "A membranous partition between two body cavities or two parts of an organ, especially that between the lungs", Late Middle English: neuter of medieval Latin mediastinus 'medial', based on Latin medius 'middle'.
scaphismus: "A method of execution said to have been practised by the ancient Persians, in which the victim was secured within a small enclosed space, such as that formed by the cavities of two small boats placed together, so that only the head and other extremities protruded, and was left to die", Late 16th cent.; earliest use found in Eunapius' Lyves of Philosophers. From post-classical Latin scaphismus from classical Latin scapha boat (scapho-) + -ismus.
cavernulous: "(Of rock or other material) full of minute cavities; porous", Mid 18th century: from Latin cavernula, diminutive of caverna 'cavern' + -ous.
polygastric: "Having many stomachs or digestive cavities; specifically of or relating to the former group Polygastrica of protozoans whose food-containing vacuoles were thought to be separate digestive organs (now historical )", Mid 19th cent.; earliest use found in The Lancet. From poly- + gastric, after monogastric and scientific Latin Polygastrica.
rhinoscope: "Any of various instruments for examining the nasal cavities and nasopharynx", Mid 19th cent. From rhino- + -scope, after rhinoscopy.
endothelium: "The tissue which forms a single layer of cells lining various organs and cavities of the body, especially the blood vessels, heart, and lymphatic vessels. It is formed from the embryonic mesoderm", Late 19th century: modern Latin, from endo- 'within' + Greek thēlē 'nipple'.