Etymologically
Log in

amphitheatrum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 12:55. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [am.pʰɪ.tʰeˈaː.trũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [am.fi.teˈaː.trum][1]

Forms

amphitheātrum n (genitive amphitheātrī); second declension[1] Petronius has the popular nominative amphitheater, also found in an inscription.[2][3] Inscriptions also have amphiteatrum, ampitheatrum and similar spellings.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀμφιθέατρον (amphithéatron),[2][4][1] from ἀμφί (amphí, “on both sides”) and θέατρον (théatron, “theatre”).[1][5] The TLL notes that the building and its name were both invented at Rome.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's earliest examples are in Vitruvius, who names towns that have no gymnasia or amphitheatres,[3][5] and in Augustus' account of his deeds, where wild-beast hunts were given in the Forum or in amphitheatres.[3]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines it as a double theatre, oval or round, with the arena in the middle.[2] Lewis & Short describe it as a building whose rising rows of seats gave everyone a clear view, used for wild-beast fights, sea battles and above all gladiatorial shows, first of wood and later of stone.[6] Seneca saw a lion in the amphitheatre, Pliny the Elder writes of Nero's amphitheatres, and Tacitus of an amphitheatre begun at Fidenae.[3]

Cassiodorus explains the name as two theatres, two places for viewing, joined into one,[3] and Isidore describes the building.[3] Church Latin keeps the word.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of towns without amphitheatres.[3][5]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius, with the popular form amphitheater.[2][3][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of Nero's amphitheatres.[3][5]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus explains the name as two theatres joined.[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An amphitheatre, an oval or round building with tiers of seats around a central arena.[2][6][1]

Word family

  • amphitheatralis
  • amphitheatricus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson