thermae Latin · revision 33781

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=4 BC–65 AD, Seneca|origins=grc θερμός}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''thermae''' ''f pl'' (genitive thermārum); first declension^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|θέρμαι|tr=thérmai|t=hot springs]],^(OLD 2012)^(Saalfeld 1874) the plural of the Greek adjective [[m|grc|θερμός|tr=thermós|t=warm]] used as a noun.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010) Lewis & Short explain it as short for [[m|la|aqua|alt=aquae]], the same as Greek “warm waters”.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler takes the Greek word back to [[ine-pro|*gʷʰer-|t=hot, warm]].^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cicero has ''Thermae'' only as the name of a town in Sicily with warm baths.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) As a common noun, “hot baths”, Georges and Lewis & Short cite Seneca first.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It names the hot baths of Rome, usually a public building with gymnasiums and other amenities: Pliny the Elder mentions the baths of Agrippa, Martial those of Nero.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Juvenal uses it for a shop selling hot drinks, a ''thermopolium''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Church Latin keeps both baths and hot springs.^(Stelten 1995) In British medieval Latin it is a natural hot spring, hot water, and a bath or bathing complex, as at Bath.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, as the name of the Sicilian town Thermae.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of hot baths.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder, of the baths of Agrippa.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of the baths of Nero.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * Medieval Latin – A natural hot spring; the baths at Bath.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Hot [[m|en|bath|alt=baths]], usually a public building with [[m|en|gymnasium|alt=gymnasiums]] and other amenities.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # Warm springs.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A shop selling hot drinks, a [[thermopōlium]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A natural hot spring; hot water.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[thermensis]]

+ * [[thermulae]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[thermopōlium]]

+ * [[balneum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}