cenaculum Latin · revision 36446

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *kert-s-nh2-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [keːˈnaː.kʊ.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [t͡ʃeˈnaː.ku.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cēnāculum''' ''n'' (genitive cēnāculī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Manuscripts often spell it ''caen-'',^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) and an inscription has ''cinacula''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|cēnō|-culum|t1=to dine]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The verb is made from [[m|la|cēna|t=dinner]],^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*kert(e)snā-|t=meal]] and [[ine-pro|*kert-s-nh2-|t=portion]];^(de Vaan 2008) Paulus' abridgment of Festus has the older form [[m|la|cēsna|alt=cēsnās]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[osc|kersnu|t=meal]] and [[xum|śesna|t=meal]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Plautus and Ennius on.^(TLL) In Plautus' ''Amphitruo'' Jupiter jokes that he lives in the upper storey, ''in superiōre quī habitō cēnāculō'', and Ennius speaks of the highest storeys of heaven.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Varro says that the place where people dined was called ''cēnāculum'', as it still was at Lanuvium, in the rest of Latium, at Falerii and at Corduba, and that once they began to dine upstairs, the whole upper part of the house was called ''cēnācula''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Hence it was an upper storey, garret or attic, often let as lodgings:^(OLD 2012) Cicero describes Rome as raised up and hung in its upper storeys, Horace's poor man keeps changing garrets, Petronius has a man letting an upper flat from the first of July, and Suetonius has Augustus watch the circus games from his friends' upper rooms.^(OLD 2012) Lewis and Short note that the upper rooms later housed the poorer classes.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ The Vulgate used it for the upper room where the Last Supper was eaten.^(Etymonline) British medieval writers use it for an upper room, a dining room or refectory, and a dinner party.^(DMLBS) Through Old French ''cenacle'' it gave English [[m|en|cenacle]], about 1400.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of an upper storey.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of the upper storeys of heaven.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro explains it as the dining room.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the upper storeys of Rome's buildings.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of rooms from which the circus games were watched.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English [[m|en|cenacle]] comes from it through Old French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An upper [[m|en|storey]], [[m|en|garret]], [[m|en|attic]], often let as lodgings.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' The upper regions (of heaven).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(archaic, dialectal)'' A [[m|en|dining room]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' The upper room of the Last Supper.^(Etymonline)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A dining room, [[m|en|refectory]]; a dinner party.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cēnāculārius]]

+ * [[cēnāculātus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cēna]]

+ * [[cēnō]]

+ * [[en|cenacle]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}