factorium

Forms

factōrium n (genitive factōriī or factōrī); second declension^[1] Köbler and the MLW also give the spelling ⟨factūrium⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin factor (“oil-presser”) + -ium.^[4][1] In the language of farming a ⟨factor⟩ was the man who pressed the olives,^[5][1] and the oil pressed at one time was a ⟨factum⟩.^[6][1] Wiktionary also analyses it as faciō (“to do, make”) with the suffix ⟨-tōrium⟩, and compares calcātōrium (“winepress”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is known from Palladius, who heads a chapter of his work on farming “on the oil press”.^[4][7][2]

Semantic evolution

The TLL defines it as the place where oil is made, and Lewis & Short and Gaffiot as an oil press.^[4][5][8] In another passage Palladius speaks of filling the measure of the factōrium, and Georges takes the word there as the quantity of olives pressed at one time, 100 to 160 modii.^[9][4] A medieval book of remedies, the Glasgow antidotary, tells the reader to make oil from olives as is customary in the factūrium.^[3] It survives in Italian fattoio (“oil mill”).^[4][1]

Timeline

• end of the 4th or beginning of the 5th century AD – Palladius writes a chapter on the oil press.^[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oil press; the place where oil is made.^[4][5][8][7]
2. The quantity of olives pressed at one time.^[9][2]

Related words

• factor
• factum
• calcātōrium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn