balneum
Latin
Alternative forms
Etymology
Syncopated form of balineum, an early borrowing from Ancient Greek βαλανεῖον (balaneîon) which displays vowel reduction of a to i.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈbal.ne.um/, [ˈbäɫ̪neʊ̃ˑ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈbal.ne.um/, [ˈbälneum]
Noun
balneum n (genitive balneī); second declension
- bath, bathing place, bathroom
- (Can we date this quote?), Another Letter from Young M. Aurelius to Fronto, quoted in 1879 by Cruttwell and Banton (editors) in Specimens of Roman Literature: Passages Illustrative of Roman Thought and Style, section 188, page 599:
- […] discus crepuit, id est pater meus in balneum transisse nuntiatus est.
- The gong rang, it is announced that my father is going to the bath.
- […] discus crepuit, id est pater meus in balneum transisse nuntiatus est.
- (Can we date this quote?), Another Letter from Young M. Aurelius to Fronto, quoted in 1879 by Cruttwell and Banton (editors) in Specimens of Roman Literature: Passages Illustrative of Roman Thought and Style, section 188, page 599:
Declension
The inflection of this noun was irregular. Usually, the plural became feminine and first declension with the specific meaning of a public place for bathing (e.g. public baths):
Second-declension noun (neuter) or first-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | balneum | balneae |
Genitive | balneī | balneārum |
Dative | balneō | balneīs |
Accusative | balneum | balneās |
Ablative | balneō | balneīs |
Vocative | balneum | balneae |
Since the Augustan period the following regular declension was sometimes used:
Second-declension noun (neuter).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | balneum | balnea |
Genitive | balneī | balneōrum |
Dative | balneō | balneīs |
Accusative | balneum | balnea |
Ablative | balneō | balneīs |
Vocative | balneum | balnea |
Occasionally, the back-form balnea was used as a singular.
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “balneum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “balneum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- balneum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- balneum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “balneum”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press