lavatorium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin lavatorium. Doublet of lavatory.

Noun

lavatorium (plural lavatoriums or lavatoria)

1. (architecture) The communal washing area in a monastery.

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Latin

Etymology

lavō (“wash”) +‎ -tōrium.

Noun

lavātōrium n (genitive lavātōriī or lavātōrī); second declension

1. (architecture, Late Latin, Medieval Latin) A washroom or place, particularly a lavatorium.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lavātōrium	lavātōria
Genitive	lavātōriī lavātōrī1	lavātōriōrum
Dative	lavātōriō	lavātōriīs
Accusative	lavātōrium	lavātōria
Ablative	lavātōriō	lavātōriīs
Vocative	lavātōrium	lavātōria

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

Descendants

• Catalan: llavador
• English: lavatorium, lavatory
• French: lavoir
• Galician: lavadoiro

• Italian: lavatoio
• Portuguese: lavadouro, lavatório
• Spanish: lavadero, lavatorio

References

• “lavatorium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• lavatorium 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)