The base type lat. vannus is listed in the Reference Dictionaries of VerbaAlpina, mainly with the meaning 'grain and fodder swing' (cf. Georges under vannus; cf. FEW 14, 157 under vannus). 'Swing' denotes the winnowing pan – an agricultural wooden device used to separate the wheat grains from the chaff, which is inedible. This device is held by the outer handles and spun so that the air passing through it separates the grains from the chaff. In the VerbaAlpina area, this Latin base type is represented by morpho-lexical types related to the concepts AVALANCHE and TUB (cf. the map of the base type vannus; see also vendúl (m.) (roa.)). The use of the same term to denote AVALANCHE on the one hand and HOLLOW on the other can be explained by a metonymic relationship of the type "vessel – content".
This type is also present in the toponymy of the Alpine region: consider the place names Van delle Sasse and Van de Zità in the Belluno Dolomites. According to Pellegrini 1990, 206 the form van bears the meaning 'tub of stone' and indeed Van delle Sasse and Van de Zità represent hollows, glacial basins between high Dolomite peaks.