binnacle: [15] Binnacle ‘ship’s compass housing’ has a curious history: etymologically it means ‘place where something lives’, and it is related to habitation and inhabit. Forms with -nn- do not begin to appear before the 18th century. Until then the word had been bittacle, which came from Spanish bitácula. A close relative of the Spanish word, French habitacle, gives a clue to its ultimate provenance in Latin habitāculum, a derivative of habitāre ‘inhabit’.
"wooden box for a ship's compass," c. 1750, corruption of bittacle (1620s), which is probably from Spanish bitacula or Portuguese bitacola, both from Latin habitaculum "little dwelling place," from habitare "to inhabit" (see habit).
