thalamus Latin · revision 30680

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=81/79–52/50 BC, Catullus|origins=grc θάλαμος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈtʰa.ɫa.mʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈtaː.la.mus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''thalamus''' ''m'' (genitive thalamī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A Greek form ''thalamos'' is also used.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|θάλαμος|tr=thálamos|t=inner room, bedroom]], especially in its Homeric use.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Etymonline relates the Greek word to [[m|grc|θαλάμη|tr=thalámē|t=den, lair]] and [[m|grc|θόλος|tr=thólos|t=vaulted building]];^(Etymonline)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler gives a root ⟨*dʰel-⟩ “vault, hollow” (Pokorny 245).^(Etymonline)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Catullus, in a wedding song: ''uxor in thalamō tibi est'', “your wife is in the bridal chamber”.^(OLD 2012) Köbler records it from Virgil on.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A poetic word, ''thalamus'' is an inner chamber, especially for sleeping: Virgil's Cyrene hears a cry ''thalamō sub fluminis altī'', in her chamber beneath the deep river.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Vitruvius uses it technically for a room of the Greek house.^(OLD 2012) Above all it is the room and bed of a married couple, and so marriage itself: Dido wishes she had lived ''thalamī expertem'', “without marriage”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Pliny uses it of the twin shrines of Apis.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “bedroom, bridal chamber, couch, platform”.^(Stelten 1995) Köbler records medieval forms such as ''talamus'' and a medieval sense “state treasury”.^(Köbler 2010) English took ''thalamus'' from Modern Latin in botany in 1753, for the receptacle of a flower.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of the bridal chamber.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of a nymph's chamber and of marriage.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny of the shrines of Apis.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1753 – English [[m|en|thalamus]] in botany.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An inner room, chamber; a [[m|en|bedroom]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A bridal chamber, the [[m|en|marriage]] bed;^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995) ''(figurative)'' marriage.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # An inner [[m|en|shrine]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|thalamus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}