balneum

Latin

Alternative forms

• balineum
• balneus, baneum (nonstandard)

Etymology

From Ancient Greek βαλανεῖον (balaneîon), apparently borrowed early enough for unstressed reduction of the second /a/ to /ĭ/ and then syncope.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.ne.um/, [ˈbäɫ̪neʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈbal.ne.um/, [ˈbälneum]

Noun

balneum, balneae n sg (variously declined, genitive balneī, balneārum); second declension, first declension

1. 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.

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

• balneārius
• balneō

Descendants

Reflexes of the variant baneum:

• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: bagnu
  • Italian: bagno (see there for further descendants)
  • Sicilian: vagnu
• Padanian:
  • Friulian: bagn
  • Lombard: bagne
  • Romansch: bogn
  • Venetian: bagno
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: bany
  • Occitan: banh
  • Old French: bain
    • French: bain
    • Walloon: bagn
    • → Middle English: bain
      • English: bain
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: bañu
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: banno
    • Galician: baño
    • Portuguese: banho
  • Old Spanish: banno
    • Ladino: banyo
    • Spanish: baño
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: banjë
  • → Proto-Slavic: *baňa (see there for further 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