necessarium

See also: Necessarium

English edit

From Latin necessarium (“reredorter; outhouse”),^[1] from necesse (“unavoidable or necessary [thing]”) + -ārium (“-arium, -ium: forming locations”).

necessarium (plural necessariums or necessaria)

(architecture) Synonym of reredorter: a monastery's latrine, outhouse, or lavatory, typically located behind the dormitory.
- 1848, The Archaeological Journal, volume V, page 101:
  The other outlet from the pisalis […] leads to the necessarium, in the corner of which a light […] is kept burning.
- 1878, "Abbey" in Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed., Vol. I, p. 13:
  A passage at the other end [of the dormitory from the passage to the south transept of St Gall's church leads to the “necessarium” (I), a portion of the monastic buildings always planned with extreme care.
(humorous, sometimes capitalized or with the definite article) A lavatory.
- 1967 December 21, The Listener, page 802:
  Viewers […] don't mind having a hundred variations, from ‘The Necessarium’ to ‘The Thunder-Box’ to choose from.

^ Oxford English Dictionary, 3rd ed. "necessarium, n." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013.

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ne.kesˈsaː.ri.um/, [nɛkɛs̠ˈs̠äːriʊ̃ˑ]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ne.t͡ʃesˈsa.ri.um/, [net͡ʃesˈsäːrium]

necessārium n (genitive necessāriī or necessārī); second declension

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

necessārium