04.12.25: Latin vocabulary: dining and cooking [2]; getting started (2)

[1]

convīva, -ae [1 m/f]: guest

convīvium, -ī [2/n]: epulae, -ārum [1/f/pl]: banquet; this is the most appropriate noun to refer to a ‘party’ or social gathering

daps, dapis [3/f]: meal; banquet; feast

hospes, hospitis [3/m]: guest; host

mēnsa, -ae [1/f]: table

[2] One of the challenges in conveying 21^st century concepts using Classical Latin vocabulary is that the words used by the Romans do not always precisely match what we would wish to describe.

cēnāculum, -ī [2/n]: a small (cēnāculum) dining area usually in an upper story, the area becoming associated with the poor i.e. an attic / garret room

cēnātiō, cēnatiōnis [3/f]: dining-hall; dining room

trīclīnium, -ī [2/n]: formal dining area in a wealthy villa comprising three sides with couches on which diners would recline

[3] The terms below all refer to eating places; I have given brief descriptors that differentiate them in Classical Latin although 21^st century intepretations are more flexible:

caupōna, -ae [1/f]: inn (food and lodging)

gānea, -ae [1/f]: nicely described in one source as a “greasy spoon” i.e. a common eating-house / cook-shop, but one which had a bad reputation since they tended to be the hang-out for prostitutes

popīna, -ae [1/f]: bar; restaurant; eating house (where food and drink was prepared and sold)

taberna, -ae [1/f]: [i] shop; [ii] inn; tavern

thermopōlium, -ī [2/n]: place where ready-to-eat food and hot drinks were sold

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermopolium

[4]

[i] coquus, -ī [2/m]: cook (m); coqua, -ae [1/f]: cook (f)

[ii] waiter and waitress

servus, -ī [2/m] and serva, -ae [1/f] both referred in Classical Latin to a male and female slave respectively, or to servants; they are not appropriate terms for a waiter and waitress despite the Modern English server

minister, -rī [2/m] and ministra, -ae [1/f] are the best choices since, among other meanings, they can refer to a waiter and waitress

caupō, -ōnis [3/m]: innkeeper; tavern-keeper i.e. like the English pub landlord

Note: caupōnārius, -ī [2/m]: shopkeeper