emporium

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See also: Emporium

English[edit]

WOTD – 28 August 2020

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin emporium (“trading station; business district in a city; market town”), from Ancient Greek ἐμπόριον (empórion, “factory, trading station; market”), from ἔμπορος (émporos, “merchant, trader; traveller”) + -ιον (-ion, suffix forming nouns). ἔμπορος is derived from ἐμ- (em-) (variant of ἐν- (en-, prefix meaning ‘in; within’)) + πόρος (póros, “journey; passageway”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to go through; to carry forth”)), modelled after ἐν πόρῳ (en pórōi, “at sea; en route”).[1]

Sense 4 (“the brain”) alludes to the organ as the place where many nerves or nerve impulses meet.[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

emporium (plural emporiums or emporia)

  1. (also figuratively) A city or region which is a major trading centre; also, a place within a city for commerce and trading; a marketplace.
    • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Against Poverty and Want, with Such Other Adversity”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 3, member 3, page 269:
      Venice a poore fiſhertowne, Paris, London, ſmall Cottages, in Cæſars time, now moſt noble Emporiums.
    • 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], →OCLC, stanza 303, page 76:
      And, while this fam'd Emporium we prepare, / The Britiſh Ocean ſhall ſuch triumphs boaſt, / That thoſe who now diſdain our Trade to ſhare, / Shall rob like Pyrats on our wealthy Coaſt.
    • 1788, Publius [pseudonym; James Madison], “Number XLI. General View of the Powers Proposed to be Vested in the Union.”, in The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, […] , volume II, New York, N.Y.: […] J. and A. M‘Lean, […], →OCLC, page 45:
      The ſtate itself [New York] is penetrated by a large navigable river for more than fifty leagues. The great emporium of its commerce, the great reſervoir of its wealth, lies every moment at the mercy of events, and may almoſt be regarded as a hoſtage for ignominious compliances with the dictates of a foreign enemy, or even with the rapacious demands of pirates and barbarians.
    • 1789, “Bridport”, in A Diary of the Royal Tour, in June, July, August, and September, 1789. […], London: […] J. Southern, […], and Scatcherd and Whitaker, […], →OCLC, footnote *, page 64:
      Excester, or EXETER, is a famous and ancient City, the metropolis and emporium of the Weſt of England.
    • 1793, “The History of Europe”, in The Annual Register, or A View of the History, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1793, London: […] W. Otridge and Son;  […], →OCLC, chapter II, page 121, column 1:
      [W]ould there not be a ſerious danger, that while theſe innovations were proceeding, rival European powers might ſeize the occaſion, renew their commercial efforts, and divert into a new channel thoſe ſtreams of commerce which rendered London the emporium of the Eaſtern trade?
    • 1806, B. Lambert, chapter XXII, in The History and Survey of London and Its Environs. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Hughes, […]; and M. Jones, […], →OCLC, page 412:
      Merchants did not carry their goods to the ports where they were to be finally disposed of, and used, but to certain emporia, called staple towns, where they met with customers from the countries where their goods were wanted, and with the commodities they wished to purchase for importation.
    • 1814, John Walker, “Anecdotes of Mr. Robert Scott, and Observations on the Booksellers of Little Britain, at the Latter End of the Seventeenth Century”, in A Selection of Curious Articles from the Gentleman’s Magazine. […], 3rd edition, volume IV, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Oxford, Oxfordshire: Munday and Slatter, →OCLC, page 91:
      Little Britain was, in the middle of the last century, a plentiful emporium of learned authors; and men went thither as to a market. [...] But now this emporium is vanished, and the trade contracted in the hands of two or three persons, who, to make good their monopoly, ransack not only their neighbours of the trade, that are scattered about town, but all over England; [...]
    • 1833 February, “The Late Conservative Dinner in Edinburgh”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume XXXIII, number CCIV, Edinburgh: William Blackwood; London: T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC, page 268, column 1:
      His Lordship, in the intoxication of his triumph at the supposed annihilation of the Tory party, described the defeated party as mere sycophants, and Edinburgh itself, prior to the commencement of the Whig Millen[n]ium, as one vast emporium of corruption.
    • 1834, Charles Gutzlaff, Journal of Three Voyages along the Coast of China, in 1831, 1832, & 1833, with Notices of Siam, Corea, and the Loo-Choo Islands‎[1], London: Frederick Westley and A.H. Davis, page 100:
      Ning-po, which is situated a short distance westward of Chusan, is the principal emporium of Che-keang province.
    • 1856, Richard F[rancis] Burton, “Preface”, in First Footsteps in East Africa; or, An Exploration of Harar, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page xxvi:
      The ancient metropolis of a once mighty race, the only permanent settlement in East Africa, the reported seat of Moslem learning, a walled city of stone houses, possessing its independent chief, its peculiar population, its unknown language, and its own coinage, the emporium of the coffee trade, the head-quarters of slavery, the birth-place of the Kat plant, and the great manufactory of cotton-cloths, amply, it [Harar] appeared, deserved the trouble of exploration.
    • 1859 April, [Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.], “The Professor at the Breakfast-table. What He Said, What He Heard, and What He Saw.”, in The Atlantic Monthly. A Magazine of Literature, Art, and Politics, volume III, number XVIII, Boston, Mass.: Phillips, Sampson and Company, […]; London: Trübner and Company, →OCLC, page 495, column 2:
      That's all I claim for Boston,—that it is the thinking centre of the continent, and therefore of the planet. / ―And the grand emporium of modesty,—said the divinity student, a little mischievously.
    • 1997, Bob Dye, “Kit-Fat Wife”, in Merchant Prince of the Sandalwood Mountains: Afong and the Chinese in Hawai‘i (A Latitude 20 Book), Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, page 27:
      Although Hong Kong was not yet a great mercantile mart, it was the major opium emporium east of the Cape of Good Hope.
    • 2007, John Darwin, After Tamerlane: The Rise and Fall of Global Empires, 1400–2000, London, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 2008, →ISBN, page 28:
      Only where churchmen congregated or rulers established their emporia—licensed depots for the long-distance trade in luxuries—did any vestiges of urban life survive.
    • 2007, Helena Hamerow, “Agrarian Production and the Emporia of Mid Saxon England, ca. AD 650–850”, in Joachim Henning, editor, The Heirs of the Roman West (Post-Roman Towns, Trade and Settlement in Europe and Byzantium; 1), Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, →ISSN, page 219:
      Ever since the excavations at Hamwic (Saxon Southampton) – the first Anglo-Saxon emporium to be investigated archaeologically – there has been speculation regarding the manner in which such settlements were provisioned, and what economic impact their presence had on agrarian production in the countryside. The following study investigates these questions from two perspectives: first, it considers faunal and botanical evidence from within the emporia themselves as indicators of agrarian production in their hinterlands.
  2. (also figuratively) A shop that offers a wide variety of goods for sale; a department store; (with a descriptive word) a shop specializing in particular goods.
    With a name like “The Wine and Spirits Emporium”, no wonder the prices are so high.
    • 1799, [Augustin] Barruel, chapter III, in Robert Clifford, transl., Memoirs, Illustrating the History of Jacobinism. […], volume III, part III (The Antisocial Conspiracy), New York, N.Y.: […] Isaac Collins, for Cornelius Davis, […], →OCLC, page 70:
      Then, as if he wiſhed to convert himſelf into a vaſt emporium of every error, he applied to the doctrines of the modern Sophiſters, and thus plied his unfortunate brain on the one ſide with all the delirious conceits of Cabaliſtic Maſonry, and on the other with the impious doctrines of the ſelf-created Philoſophers.
    • 1826 January 7, “Economy in Dress [advertisement]”, in William Cobbett, editor, Cobbett’s Weekly Register, volume LVII, number 2, London: […] William Cobbett, […], →OCLC:
      J. Charles begs to state, that in consequence of his making his purchases with Cash, and always keeping an extensive Stock, he is enabled to defy competition.—Observe, the Emporium of Fashion is at 171, Fleet-street.
    • 1919, Saki [pseudonym; Hector Hugh Munro], “Morlvera”, in R[othay] R[eynolds], editor, The Toys of Peace and Other Papers. […], London: John Lane, The Bodley Head […], →OCLC, page 209:
      The Olympic Toy Emporium occupied a conspicuous frontage in an important West End street. It was happily named Toy Emporium, because one would never have dreamed of according it the familiar and yet pulse-quickening name of toyshop.
    • 1998, Guo Hongchi, Liu Fei, “New China’s Flagship Emporium: The Beijing Wangfujing Department Store”, in Kerrie L. MacPherson, transl., Asian Department Stores (ConsumAsian), Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, page 114:
      The Beijing Wangfujing Department Store is a large commercial enterprise well-known in China, and is also famous as one of the world's largest retail stores [...] About 1.7 billion customers, both Chinese and foreign, have been received by the Emporium since its founding, which is about 1.4 times the population of China [...].
    • 1999, Alan A. Siegel, Somerset County in Vintage Photographs (Postcard History Series)‎[2], Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia Publishing, →ISBN:
      Many of the "pick and shovel men," who built nearby Duke's Park, found homes in neighboring Raritan village, spending their weekly wages at such well-known emporiums as Amerman and Reager's General Store (a landmark from 1883 to 1953), Granetz's Department Store (1900 to 1988), and Glaser's (1893 to 1997).
    • 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 6:
      In all of India, China, Africa, and much of the southern American continent, those who had the leisure and wallet for fashion […] would have killed for the street merchandise of Manhattan, as also for […] the reject china and designer-label bargains to be found in downtown discount emporia.
  3. (historical) A business set up to enable foreign traders to engage in commerce in a country; a factory (now the more common term).
    • 1654 April 21, Charles Jenkinson, “Treaty of Peace between Oliver Cromwell Protector of the Common-wealth of England, and Christina Queen of Sweden, Concluded at Upsal, April 11th, 1654 [Julian calendar]”, in A Collection of All the Treaties of Peace, Alliance, and Commerce, between Great-Britain and Other Powers, […], volume I (From 1648, to 1713), London: […] J[ohn] Debrett, […], published 1785, →OCLC, article XVI, page 70:
      The advantages to be enjoyed, and laws conformed to by the men of war of either ſtate, the trade to be carried on in America, the catching of herrings or other fiſh, the ſettling of emporiums, &c. ſhall be adjuſted by a ſpecial treaty.
    • 1760, T[obias] Smollett, “George II”, in Continuation of the Complete History of England, volume I, London: […] Richard Baldwin, […], →OCLC, page 204:
      On the ſouthern branch is a town called Pipely, where there was formerly an Engliſh factory; but this was removed to Huguley, one hundred and ſixty miles farther up the river; a place which, together with the company's ſettlement at Calcutta, were the emporiums of their commerce for the whole kingdom of Bengal.
  4. (by extension, obsolete) The brain.
    • 1722, [Antoine] Deidier, “Article XL. An Account of an Extraordinary Disease, Inscribed to Dr. Deidier, Regius Professor of Physick at Montpellier; with His Thoughts upon that Disease.”, in [Michel de La Roche], editor, Memoirs of Literature. […], 2nd edition, volume III, London: […] R. Knaplock, […]; and P. Vaillant, […], →OCLC, page 197:
      Catalepſy is occaſioned by a Relaxation of the Fibers of the Emporium, which cannot receive the outward Impreſſions, whereby the Soul has its Senſations, and yet give a free Paſſage to the Animal Spirits into all the Parts, whither they may be conveyed independently upon the Will. The Relaxation of the Fibers of the Emporium is occaſioned by a thin Seroſity, which remains in the very Texture of the Fibers, to relax them without leſſening their Cavity, as it happens in the periodical Oedema’s, that are daily obſerved upon ſeveral Parts of the Skin.
    • 1877, Richard Fawcett Battye, “Upon Animal Morphology and Differentiation”, in What is Vital Force?: Or, A Short and Comprehensive Sketch, including, Vital Physics, Animal Morphology, and Epidemics; […], London: Trübner & Co., […], →OCLC, section IV (The Sense of Sight), page 136:
      Observing, then that the emporium or brain itself reflects the entire product of all the senses by an impressible power, which, as by a looking-glass, exactly duplicated the external recognizers, or sense apparatus or limbs, it was inferred that the principle of duplication must be the true and exact counterpart to evergency; [...]

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References[edit]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “emporium, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2014; “emporium, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Dutch[edit]

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin emporium (“trading station, market town, market”); from Ancient Greek ἐμπόριον (empórion, “trading station”), from ἔμπορος (émporos, “merchant", "traveller", literally "incomer"”), from ἐν (en, “in”) and πόρος (póros, “journey”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

emporium n (plural emporia or emporiums, diminutive emporiumpje n)

  1. (historical) emporium (trading centre)

French[edit]

Noun[edit]

emporium m (plural emporiums or emporia)

  1. emporium

Further reading[edit]

Latin[edit]

Latin Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia la

Etymology[edit]

From Ancient Greek ἐμπόριον (empórion, “trading station”), from ἔμπορος (émporos, “merchant”, “traveller”, literally “incomer”), from ἐν (en, “in”) and πόρος (póros, “journey”).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

emporium n (genitive emporiī or emporī); second declension

  1. emporium

Declension[edit]

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative emporium emporia
Genitive emporiī
emporī1 		emporiōrum
Dative emporiō emporiīs
Accusative emporium emporia
Ablative emporiō emporiīs
Vocative emporium emporia

1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

References[edit]

  • “emporium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “emporium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • emporium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • “emporium”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “emporium”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
  • “emporium”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Polish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Latin emporium (“trading station, market town, market”); from Ancient Greek ἐμπόριον (empórion, “trading station”), from ἔμπορος (émporos, “merchant", "traveller", literally "incomer"”), from ἐν (en, “in”) and πόρος (póros, “journey”).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ɛmˈpɔ.rjum/
  • Rhymes: -ɔrjum
  • Syllabification: em‧po‧rium

Noun[edit]

emporium n

  1. emporium

Declension[edit]

Declension of emporium
singular plural
nominative emporium emporia
genitive emporium emporiów
dative emporium emporiom
accusative emporium emporia
instrumental emporium emporiami
locative emporium emporiach
vocative emporium emporia

Further reading[edit]

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