lavatorium

Forms

lavātōrium n (genitive lavātōriī or lavātōrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lavō + -tōrium,^[1][2] or, as Etymonline puts it, the neuter of the adjective lavātōrius (“of washing”) used as a noun.^[3] The verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”).^[1] Its Romance descendants include Italian lavatoio, French lavoir, Old Occitan lavador, Spanish lavadero and Portuguese lavadouro.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Greek–Latin glossaries, which explain it by Greek νιπτήρ (niptḗr, “washbasin”) and πλύσιμον (plúsimon),^[4][2] that is, a place or vessel for washing.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In medieval Latin it named a place for washing, a bath or washroom, and especially the lavatory of a monastery, usually in the cloister;^[7][8] Lanfranc's monastic Constitutions send the monks to the lavatorium to wash and comb their hair.^[7] It was also a vessel for washing the hands^[9] and a watering place where horses were washed.^[9] English took it over in the late 14th century as lavatory, at first for a washbasin.^[3]

Timeline

• 1157 – A charter of Louis VII of France names a watering place, the Lavatorium Coriani.^[9]
• 1184 – A Pipe Roll records work on the lavatory in the king's hall at Westminster.^[7]
• 1278 – Durham accounts record repairs to the lavatory at the refectory door.^[7]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as lavatory, “washbasin”.^[3]
• 1420 – An inventory lists three silver lavatoria, vessels for washing the hands.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A place for washing; a washbasin.^[5][6][4]
2. (Medieval Latin) A lavatory or washroom, especially that of a monastery.^[7][8][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A vessel for washing the hands.^[9]
4. (Medieval Latin) A watering place for horses.^[9]

Related words

• English lavatory

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d e 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
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b c d e f du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre