28.11.26: Comenius (1658) LXXV; the Bath [3] vocabulary (2)

[vi]

Balneātor scarificat scalprō & applicandō cucurbitās extrahit sanguinem subcutāneum, quem abstergit spongiā.

The bath-keeper lances with a lancet and by applying cupping-glasses he draws the blood between the skin and the flesh, which he wipes away with a sponge.

[i] image #1: cucurbita, -ae [1/f]: [i] gourd, squash, (Neo-Latin) pumpkin; [ii] cupping-glass, used in the operation of drawing blood; the term conveys the shape of the glass

[ii] scalprum, -ī [2/n]: lancet; knife > (diminutive) scalpellum, -ī [2/n]: a small surgical knife > Engl. scalpel

image #2: bronze lancet found at Ephesus (Science Museum, UK)

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2025/03/100625-blunt-razors-blood-letting-and_6.html

Bloodletting and lancing were normally associated with barber-surgeons who, alongside cutting hair and shaving, would perform minor surgery, for example tooth extraction and the treatment of wounds. Here, Comenius refers to the practice being carried out by bath attendants.

The same medical practices took place in Ancient Rome although whether minor surgical procedures were performed at the actual location of the baths is less certain. However, the medicinal benefits of bathing are referred to by, for example, Celsus.

Images #3 and #4: bloodletting in Ancient Greece and the Middle Ages

28.11.26: Comenius (1658) LXXV; the Bath [2] vocabulary (1)

[i] -tor (masculine); -trīx (feminine)

Used to form agent nouns i.e. the person who performs the action contained in the root, usually a verb but, also from nouns i.e. balneum, -ī [2/n]: bath

balneum + -tor > balneātor, -ōris [3/m]: bath attendant (male)

balneum + -trīx > balneātrīx, -īcis [3/f]: bath attendant (female)

piscātor, -ōris [3/m]: fisherman; piscātrīx, piscātrīcis [3/f]: fisherwoman

āctor,-ōris [3/m]: actor; āctrīx, -īcis [3/f]: actress

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/04/300324-third-declension-5-more-ways-of.html

[Notes (5) and (6)]

[ii]

balneārium, -ī [2/n]: bathing-house

-ārium: the suffix is primarily used to denote either the purpose of a place or a place where things are kept:

liber (book) + -ārium > librārium, -ī [2/n]: bookcase; library

arma (weapons; tools) + -ārium > armārium, -ī [2/n]: cupboard

[iii]

apodytērium, -ī [2/n]: dressing-room, undressing room, the term used in Classical Latin for that section of the Roman bath house

sūdātōrium, -ī [2/n]: hot-air bath, sweating room; this is a rare word in CL although it is referred to by Seneca. The words used in Ancient Rome referring to the parts of a bath house are:

[1] caldārium, -ī [2/n]: from caldus, -a, -um, the caldarium was a room with hot water supplied, and with a hypocaust, an underfloor heating system.

[2] tepidārium, -ī [2/n]: From tepidus, -a, -um, this was the warm bathroom between the hot caldarium and the cold frigidarium with a lukewarm bath of water (labrum) lessening the shock of moving from one extreme temperature to the other.

[3] frīgidārium, -ī [2/n]: from frīgidus, -a, -um, the frigidarium contained a large pool of cold water for cooling off after the heat of the caldarium and tepidarium.

https://adckl.blogspot.com/2024/05/190424-bath-time.html

[iv]

alveus, -ī [2/m]: in the text, the word simply refers to a water trough; various additional meanings including any deep vessel, the hold of a ship and a riverbed. The term was also used in a derogatory way since it could refer to a trough for feeding pigs:

Etiam in alveō circumlāta sunt oxycomina, unde quīdam etiam improbē ternōs pugnōs sustulērunt (Petronius)

Pickled olives were also brought round in a dish, from where some voraciously took three fistfuls.

The author’s choice of alveus to describe the dish, combined with the guests’ greedy grabbing, implies that their behaviour is no different from that of pigs. Indeed, the English verb trough defines eating in a vulgar manner.

canālis, -is [3/m]: pipe, channel

image #1: water pipe, Pompeii

labrum, -ī [2/n]: tub, basin

image #2: labrum in the caldarium of the main forum baths at Pompeii

situla, -ae [1/f]: bucket

image #3: Giberville bucket

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

pelluvium [2/n] / pelluvia, -ae [1/f]: basin, footbath; both nouns are extremely rare

image #4: malluvium, -ī [2/n]: (Mediaeval) wash-hand basin

image #5: footbath (Greek; late 5th–early 4th century BCE, Metropolitan Museum)

image #6: engraving (1890) of a relief sculpture of a young Roman wife covering her face with a flammeum which is an orange bridal veil while another woman washes her feet.

[v]

castula, -ae [1/f]: apron, loincloth; in CL it referred specifically to a type of petticoat worn by women

cilicium, -ī [2/n]: hair-cloth; the term originally refers to a rough garment made of goat hair

pīleolus, -ī [2/m] / pilleolus, -ī [2/m]: little cap; -ol- marks the diminutive form of pīleus / pilleus, a felt cap

pūmex, pūmicis [3/m]: pumice-stone

24.11.26: Comenius (1658) LXXV; the Bath [1] text, translation, grammar notes

The Bath | Balneum

He that desireth to be wash’d | quī cupit lavārī

in cold water, | aquā frīgidā,

goeth down into a river, 1. | dēscendit in flūvium, 1.

In a bathing-house, 2. | in balneāriō, 2.

we wash off the filth | abluimus squalōrēs,

either sitting in a tub, 3. | sīve sedentēs in labrō, 3.

or going up | sīve cōnscendentēs

into the hot-house, 4. | in sūdātōrium, 4.

and we are rubbed | & dēfricāmur

with a pumice-stone, | pūmice,

or a hair-cloth, | aut ciliciō,

In the stripping-room, 5. | in apodytēriō, 5.

we put off our clothes, | exuimus vestēs,

and are tyed about | & praecingimur

with an apron, 6. | castulā, 6.

We cover our head | tegimus caput

with a cap, 7. | pīleolō, 7.

and put our feet | & impōnimus pedēs

into a bason, 8. | pelluviō, 8.

The bath-woman, 9. | balneātrīx, 9.

reacheth water in a bucket, 10. | ministrat aquam situlā, 10.

drawn out of the trough, 11. | haustam ex alveō, 11.

into which it runneth | in quem dēfluit

out of pipes, 12. | ē canālibus, 12.

The bath-keeper, 13. | balneātor, 13.

lanceth with a lancet, 14. | scarificat scalprō, 14.

and by applying | & applicandō

cupping-glasses, | cucurbitās,

he draweth the blood | extrahit sanguinem

betwixt the skin and the flesh, | subcutāneum,

which he wipeth away | quem abstergit

with a spunge, | spongiā.

[1] Grammar notes

[i] passive voice

quī cupit lavārī | he who desires to get washed

dēfricāmur | we are rubbed

praecingimur | we are tied about

[ii] ablative of means / instrument

quī cupit lavārī aquā frīgidā | he who desires to get washed in [by means of] cold water

dēfricāmur pūmice aut ciliciō | we are rubbed with a pumice-stone, or a hair-cloth

praecingimur castulā | we are tied about with an apron

tegimus caput pīleolō | we cover the head with a cap

balneātor scarificat scalprō | The bath-keeper lanceth with a lancet

(sanguinem) abstergit spongiā | He wipes away the blood with a sponge

[iii] present active participle

abluimus squalōrēs, sīve sedentēs in labrō, sīve cōnscendentēs in sūdātōrium

we wash off the filth, either [while] sitting in a tub, or [while] going up into the hot-house

https://adckl.blogspot.com/search/label/present%20active%20participle

[iv] gerund

applicandō cucurbitās

by applying cupping-glasses

https://adckl.blogspot.com/search/label/gerund

19.04.24: Roman bath houses

Image #1: the Baths of Caracalla, Rome

Image #2: Giacomo Lauro's engraving of a bird's-eye view of the Baths of Diocletian

19.04.24: bath time!

The names of sections of the Roman baths are derived from the adjectives caldus, tepidus and frīgidus. Upon entering the baths, the Romans would store their clothes in the apodytērium and then move through a sequence of rooms.

[1] caldārium, -ī [2/n]: from caldus, -a, -um, the caldarium was a room with hot water supplied, and with a hypocaust, an underfloor heating system.

[2] tepidārium, -ī [2/n]: From tepidus, -a, -um, this was the warm bathroom between the hot caldarium and the cold frigidarium with a lukewarm bath of water (labrum) lessening the shock of moving from one extreme temperature to the other.

[3] frīgidārium, -ī [2/n]: from frīgidus, -a, -um, the frigidarium contained a large pool of cold water for cooling off after the heat of the caldarium and tepidarium.

Image #1: Apodytērium (from Ancient Greek"undressing room") was the main entry into the thermae (public baths), and comprised a large changing room with cubicles or shelves where where clothing and other belongings could be stored while bathing.

The image shows the apodyterium of the women’s changing room at Herculaneum. Note the shelving used for storing clothes and belongings.

Image #2: caldārium; from the Roman baths at Bath, England. The floor was removed to show the hypocaust system beneath

Image #3: bronze brazier and bench where bathers would have sat to perspire; south end of the tepidarium, Pompeii

Image #4: tepidārium of the men’s baths, Pompeii

Image #5: frīgidārium, Pompeii

Image #6: frīgidārium, Bath, England

Image #7: strigilis, -is [3/f]: strigil; part of the bathing routine in ancient Rome involved cleaning the body with oil. Having rubbed the oil in, a strigil was used to scrape away any excess as well as any dead skin and dirt. The image is an example from the 1st century CE.