campus (n.)

"college grounds," 1774, from Latin campus "flat land, field," from Proto-Italic *kampo- "field," of uncertain origin. De Vaan finds cognates in Greek kampe "a bending, bow, curvature;" Lithuanian kampas "corner," kumpti "to bend," kumpas "curved;" Gothic hamfs "mutilated, lame," Old High German hamf, and concludes the source "could well be a European substratum word from agricultural terminology." First used in college sense at Princeton.