delubrum

Forms

dēlūbrum n (genitive dēlūbrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It seems to be formed from dēluō (“to wash off”) with the suffix -brum, a place of cleansing.^[2][3][1] The TLL calls the origin uncertain, and besides this compares lūstrum.^[3] De Vaan lists it among the compounds of lavō (“to wash”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *lowa- and Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a temple or shrine, often used with feeling, and is frequent in the poets and elevated prose, usually in the plural.^[2][6] Varro, quoted by Macrobius, already reported several ancient explanations of the word.^[3]

In medieval Latin it is a pagan sanctuary, and also a baptistery.^[7] Church Latin glosses it “temple, shrine”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro on its origin, quoted by Macrobius.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A temple, shrine, sanctuary.^[2][1][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) A pagan sanctuary; a baptistery.^[7]

Related words

• lavō
• templum
• fānum
• aedēs

Usage notes

Döderlein says that templum, fānum and dēlūbrum denote the temple with its consecrated surroundings, while aedēs is the building only and sacellum a consecrated place with an altar but no building.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper