From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Early 14 c., from Old French forteresce, forteresse, forterece ( “ strong place, fortification ” ) , variant of fortelesse Medieval Latin fortalitia Latin fortis ( “ strong ” ) (see fort -itia French -ess Latin -itia duress largesse riches -l- to -r- in Old French, compare orne ( “ elm ” ) from ulmus chartre cartula chapitre capitulum
fortress (plural fortresses
A fortified place; a large and permanent fortification , sometimes including a town ; for example a fort, a castle ; a stronghold ; a place of defense or security .
1981 William Irwin Thompson , The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture , London: Rider/Hutchinson & Co., page 160 :Like the Mesolithic age of 10,000-8000 B.C., the period 6000-4000 B.C. seems to be one of the fall of fortresses and the rise of pastoral nomadism.
( chess ) position that, if obtained by the weaker side, will prevent penetration by the opposing side, generally achieving a draw .fortified place
Ainu: チャシ ( chashi )
Albanian: kala (sq) f fortesë (sq) f
Arabic: قَلْعَة f ( qalʕa ) , حِصْن (ar) m ( ḥiṣn )
Moroccan Arabic: قلعة f ( qalʕa )
Armenian: ամրոց (hy) ( amrocʻ ) , բերդ (hy) ( berd )
Aromanian: tsitati f grãditã f
Azerbaijani: qala (az)
Belarusian: крэ́пасць f ( krépascʹ ) , фартэ́цыя f ( fartécyja ) , цвердзь f ( cvjerdzʹ ) , фартэ́ца f ( fartéca )
Bengali: দুর্গ (bn) ( durgo ) , কেল্লা (bn) ( kella ) , কোট (bn) ( kōṭ )
Bulgarian: кре́пост (bg) f ( krépost )
Burmese: ခံမြို့ (my) ( hkammrui. ) , ခံတပ် (my) ( hkamtap )
Catalan: fortalesa (ca) f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 要塞 (zh) ( yàosài ) , 城堡 (zh) ( chéngbǎo ) , 堡壘 / 堡垒 (zh) ( bǎolěi )
Classical Nahuatl: yāōcalli
Czech: pevnost (cs) f
Danish: fæstning (da) c
Dutch: vesting (nl) f fort (nl) n
Dzongkha: རྫོང ( rdzong )
Erzya: кемечикудо ( kemečikudo )
Esperanto: fortreso fortiko
Estonian: kindlus
Finnish: linnoitus (fi)
French: forteresse (fr) f
Galician: forte (gl) m fortaleza (gl) f
Georgian: ციხესიმაგრე ( cixesimagre )
German: Festung (de) f
Gothic: 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌲𐍃 f ( baurgs )
Greek: φρούριο (el) n ( froúrio )
Ancient: φρούριον n ( phroúrion ) , ὀχύρωμα n ( okhúrōma )
Hebrew: מִבְצָר (he) m ( mivtsár )
Hindi: गढ़ी (hi) ( gaṛhī ) , क़िला m ( qilā ) , दुर्ग (hi) m ( durg )
Hungarian: vár erőd (hu) , erődítmény (hu)
Icelandic: virki n
Ido: fortreso (io)
Ingrian: kreeposti
Irish: dún
Italian: fortezza (it) f rocca (it) f
Japanese: 要塞 (ja) ( ようさい, yōsai ) , 城塞 (ja) ( じょうさい, jōsai )
Kalmyk: шивә ( şivä )
Karakalpak: qorg'an
Kazakh: бекініс ( bekınıs ) , қамал ( qamal )
Khmer: បន្ទាយ (km) ( bɑntiəy )
Korean: 요새(要塞) (ko) ( yosae ) , 성새(城塞) ( seongsae )
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: قەڵا (ckb) ( qella )
Northern Kurdish: birc (ku) , kelhe (ku)
Kyrgyz: сепил (ky) ( sepil )
Lao: ປ້ອມ ( pǭm ) , ບຸລະ ( bu la )
Latin: castrum (la) n castellum (la) n arx (la) f
Latvian: cietoksnis m
Lithuanian: tvirtovė f
Macedonian: твр́дина f ( tvŕdina ) , ка́ле n ( kále ) , кре́пост f ( krépost )
Malay: kubu (ms) , benteng (ms)
Maranao: ilian
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: цайз (mn) ( cajz ) , хэрэм (mn) ( xerem )
Norman: fortéresse f ( Jersey )
Norwegian:
Bokmål: festning m or f
Nynorsk: festning f or m
Occitan: fortalesa (oc) f
Old English: fæsten n
Ottoman Turkish: حصار ( hisar ) , حصن ( hısn ) , قلعه ( kalʼe ) , كرمان ( kerman, kirman ) , قسطل ( kastel )
Pashto: قلعه (ps) m ( qal'á )
Persian:
Dari: دِژ ( diž ) , قَلْعَه ( qal'a )
Iranian Persian: دِژ ( dež ) , قَلْعِه ( ğal'e )
Polish: forteca (pl) f twierdza (pl) f warownia (pl) f
Portuguese: fortaleza (pt) f
Potawatomi: wakaigin
Quechua: pukara
Romanian: cetate (ro) f fortăreață (ro) f
Russian: кре́пость (ru) f ( krépostʹ )
Sanskrit: पुरा (sa) ( purā ) , दुर्ग (sa) m ( durga ) , पुरी (sa) f ( purī )
Scots: fortress
Scottish Gaelic: dùn m
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: твр̀ђава f у̏тврда f тврђа f
Roman: tvr̀đava (sh) f ȕtvrda (sh) f tvȑđa (sh) f
Shona: svingo
Slovak: pevnosť f tvrdza m
Slovene: utrdba (sl) f
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: grod m
Spanish: fortaleza (es) f
Swedish: fästning (sv) c
Tajik: қалъа ( qalʾa ) , диж (tg) ( diž )
Tashelhit: ⵜⴰⴳⴰⴷⵉⵔⵜ f ( tagadirt )
Tatar: кальга (tt) ( qal’ga )
Thai: ป้อม (th) ( bpɔ̂m ) , ปราการ (th) ( bpraa-gaan )
Turkish: kale (tr) , hisar (tr)
Turkmen: gala
Ukrainian: форте́ця (uk) f ( fortécja ) , крі́пость f ( krípostʹ ) , тверди́ня f ( tverdýnja )
Urdu: قِلْعَہ m ( qil'a ) , قَلْعَہ m ( qal'a )
Uyghur: قەلئە ( qel'e )
Uzbek: qalʻa
Vietnamese: pháo đài (vi)
Welsh: caer (cy) f
Yiddish: פֿעסטונג f ( festung )
Zhuang: yausai
fortress (third-person singular simple present fortresses present participle fortressing simple past and past participle fortressed
( transitive ) furnish with a fortress or with fortresses; to guard , to fortify .
