dormitorium

Forms

dormītōrium n (genitive dormītōriī or dormītōrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dormītōrius (“of or for sleeping”), used as a noun in the neuter.^[2][1][3] The adjective is made from dormiō (“to sleep”) with the suffix -tōrius,^[2] and dormiō goes back to Proto-Italic *dormje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *drm-i̯e- (“to sleep”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot and Köbler first record it in Pliny the Elder, for a bedroom.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In Latin of the Empire it was a bedroom, a sense Du Cange finds in the letters of Pliny, in Sidonius and in Marcellus, who writes dormitorium cubiculum.^[7] Jerome names dormitoria among vehicles.^[7]

Medieval writers used it above all for the common sleeping hall of a monastery or of a chapter of canons, the dorter,^[7][8][9] and Ælfric glosses it with Old English slæpern.^[7][8] Catalan charters use it both for a private bedchamber and for a community's dormitory,^[10] and in Britain it could also mean a bed or, as a euphemism, a tomb.^[8] English borrowed it in the mid-15th century as dormitory, at first of a monastery or nunnery, after having the Old French form as dortour from about 1300.^[11]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for a bedroom.^[5][6]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome lists dormitoria among vehicles.^[7][6]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it for a bedroom.^[7][6]
• 1020 – A donation to the canons of Barcelona uses it of their dormitory.^[10]
• 1097 – A testament from Urgell mentions a bed “in the dormitory”.^[10]
• 1279 – A Hungarian synod orders silence in the cloister, refectory and dormitory.^[9]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as dormitory.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bedroom.^[2][5]
2. (Late Latin) A kind of carriage, named among vehicles.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin) The dormitory of a monastery or chapter, the dorter.^[8][7][9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A bed;^[8] (euphemistic) a tomb.^[8]

Related words

• dormiō
• English dormitory

Usage notes

The TLL has a separate feminine dormitoria, a kind of garment for sleeping known from the glossaries.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g h du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b c d e f Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
10. ^ a b c Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften