colosseum

See also: Colosseum

English

Alternative forms

• coliseum
• colossæum (archaic)

Etymology

From Latin Colosseum, from neuter of colosseus (“gigantic”), from Ancient Greek κολοσσιαῖος (kolossiaîos), from κολοσσός (kolossós, “giant statue”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

colosseum (plural colosseums or (rare) colossea)

1. Alternative spelling of coliseum
   • 1888, The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and General Literature, 9th edition, volume XXIII, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, page 224, column 1:

     This design was also adopted for their amphitheatres, such as the colossea of Rome and Capua, the plan of which resembles the cavea of two theatres set together so as to enclose an oval space.

   • 1971, The Canadian Banker, page 6:

     The temples and banking halls of Rome were turned into churches, and the deserted shells of the great monuments, the baths, the stadia and colossea, were used as quarries for buildings to come.

   • 1997, David Nicholas, The Growth of the Medieval City: From Late Antiquity to the Early Fourteenth Century, Addison Wesley Longman Limited, →ISBN, page 45:

     The colossea, games and temples declined.

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ko.losˈseː.um/, [kɔɫ̪ɔs̠ˈs̠eːʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ko.losˈse.um/, [kolosˈsɛːum]

Adjective

colossēum

1. inflection of colossēus:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

References

• “colosseum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “colosseum”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929) Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press