frigidarius

Forms

frīgidārius (feminine frīgidāria, neuter frīgidārium); first/second-declension adjective^[1] The syncopated form frīgdārius is required by the metre in Lucilius.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin frīgida (“cold water”) + -ārius,^[3] from frīgidus (“cold”).^[2][4] De Vaan lists the noun frīgidārium under frīgus (“cold, frost”),^[5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *srīgos- and Proto-Indo-European *sriHǵ-o/es- (“frost, bitter cold”).^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ῥῖγος (rhîgos, “cold, frost”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records the noun from Lucilius on,^[5] who speaks of bringing goods into the cold store, mercem in frigdāria ferre.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means holding or bringing cold water: Vitruvius describes three bronze vessels in a bath, one for hot, one for warm and one for cold water,^[2] and Petronius has cisterns of cold water.^[4] Pliny the Younger uses cella frīgidāria for the cooling room of the baths,^[3][4] and Palladius a cement for cold baths and a pipe for cold water.^[2][6]

As a neuter noun, frīgidārium named the cold room of a bath, from Vitruvius on,^[4][2] and in Lucilius a cool place for keeping food.^[6][2] The Historia Augusta speaks of baths always cooled with snow.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses the plural frigdāria for a cold store.^[2][7]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a vessel for cold water and of the cold room of a bath.^[2][7]
• before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of cisterns.^[4][7]
• end of 4th/beginning of 5th century AD – Palladius uses it of cement and pipes for cold baths.^[2][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or for cold water; used for cooling.^[3][4]
2. cella frīgidāria: the cooling room of a bath.^[3][4]

Noun

1. frīgidārium: the cold room of a bath, the frigidarium.^[4][2]
2. frīgidārium (plural frigdāria): a cool place for keeping food.^[6][2]

Word family

• frīgidārium

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de