atrium

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈaː.tri.ũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈaː.tri.um]^[1]

Forms

ātrium n (genitive ātriī or ātrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.^[2][1] De Vaan lists it under āter “black” as a derivative of *ātro-, on the view that the room first held the fireplace and was blackened by its smoke; this view was already current in antiquity and has no independent support, but de Vaan sees no better one.^[3][4] Scaliger derived it from Ancient Greek αἴθριον (aíthrion, “open to the sky”), and Varro from the Etruscan town of Atria.^[5] Wiktionary also mentions Etruscan 𐌀𐌈𐌓𐌄 (aθre, “house”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards.^[3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[6]

Semantic evolution

It was the first main room of a Roman house, with an opening in the roof, where callers were received.^[2] Georges describes it as the smoke-blackened room of old Italian farmhouses that became the front hall of town houses.^[4] In poetry the plural meant a whole house or palace, as Ovid's halls of Jupiter, and it was also a hall used for business, especially auctions.^[2]

Isidore says it was named for the three porticoes added to it, or, as others thought, from atrum “black”, because of the smoke of fire and lamp.^[7] In medieval Latin it was the consecrated churchyard in front of or around a church.^[8][6] English atrium was borrowed in the 1570s for the entrance hall of a Roman house.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the plural of the halls of Jupiter.^[2][6]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains the name.^[7][6]
• 1570s – English atrium is borrowed.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The main front room of a Roman house, an atrium, hall.^[2][1]
2. (plural, poetic) A house, a palace.^[2]
3. A hall for business, especially auctions.^[2]
4. A hall or court of a temple.^[1]
5. (Medieval Latin) A churchyard.^[8]

Word family

• atriarius
• ātriolum
• ātriēnsis

Related words

• Ātrius
• vestibulum
• ater
• English atrium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com