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vomitariumWell that really rounds out the feast, doesn't it stales?  It sure would be a pretty funky lookin' bath house! But it's specifications seem just right for the stated purpose. Large enough to accomodate a banqueting throng, closed-off enough to mask the act, but open enough to flatter the host by being seen as one of the multitudes wretching there. The concept of community puking never even occurred to me before this, I figured they just went off by themselves. O the charms of full-blown hedonism!  By the way, here's a url for an abstract of the Archaeology magazine cover story on Roman banqueting, "When Gluttony Ruled!" Just click on that red-highlighted title when you open the page. http://www.archaeology.org/cgi-bin/site.pl?page=curiss/index
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old hand
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old hand
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Sometimes the ol' stales is a bit slow......
"The Governor's Bath House" is EXACTLY what the convict staff at Old Government House would have called the vomitarium!!
As I understand it however WO'n, dining definitely did not take place in vomitaria. One adjourned as necessary between bouts of feasting. Made the cleaners' lives easier no doubt having all the problem in one spot - as opposed to having to search for pavement pizzas scattered around the grounds the morning after.
stales
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Sorry...my hazy wording, stales. Of course I meant where throngs of banqueters adjourned to partake in communal gorging. And Good Lord!...the cleaners' lives!?  Oxymoronic, isn't it?
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Date: Mon Nov 10 00:03:31 EST 1997 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--vomitorium vo.mi.to.ri.um n. A passage or opening in an ancient amphitheatre or theatre, leading to or from the seats. Usu. pl. 1754 Dictionary of Arts & Sciences. I. 129/2 "They were entered by avenues, at the end of which were gates, called vomitoria." also known as vomitory http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=vomitory
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Carpal Tunnel
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There is a bone in the human skull, the lower part of the nasal septum, called the "vomer" which seems to be ultimately from the same root as vomit. It was also a Late Latin word for ploughshare. I can't quite figure out why.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Here is a URL about medieval banquets. http://www.fpm.wisc.edu/safety/banquet/BANQUET.htm It is earliest I have found mention of social putdown by being seated "below the salt". I have wondered about the origin of this. Salt was not expensive. There were many trade routes for salt by 500 BC. In England there were places where salt was obtained in Iron Age, and many during Roman occupation of Britain. In Domesday Book over a thousand were listed. Salt was not cheap, but it was not the cost, I suspect, but the dirty hands of lowclass guests that put them where they could not pollute the salt. Salt shakers would have been quite impractical at that time, since it would have taken a skillful craftsman to make the perforated top, and humidity would have kept it from working. I suppose rock salt could be ground to get small particle size. But fine white tablesalt did not become available until a couple hundred years ago, when it was discovered that an upwelling of brine in evaporating pan would suspent suitable sized crystals.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Bill:
You said:
There is a bone in the human skull, the lower part of the nasal septum, called the "vomer" which seems to be ultimately from the same root as vomit. It was also a Late Latin word for ploughshare. I can't quite figure out why.
Well, there isn't any connection, which is probably why you cannot figure it out.
Vomer is a noun, deriving directly from the latin word vomer, a ploughshare.
Vomit as a verb derives from vomo, vomere, vomiti, vomitus, to Bushusuru.
It's just cooincidence, I believe, that they start with the same first three letters. But there are a LOT of words like that, doncha know?
TTF
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear TEd: I have no facts with which to strengthen my suggestion. But a plow makes a passage through the soil, the nose is passageway, though the vomer dividing it in two doesn't seem to fit. Apropos of nothing in particular, I still remember how disagreeable it was as a child to have vomit come through my nose.
As for the vomitorium I can find no kind words for a cult of such excessive imbibition. I joked about regurgitation of sweet-sour port not being too bad, but I can only be mildly revolted by thought of intentionally provoking emesis of thin red vinegar and gastric juice.Yuk! And double Yuk!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Notice in the medieval picture the round objects that look like plates, but are actually slices of four day old bread. Text says they were not eaten, but given to the poor. I remember reading in German that it was considered "unhöflich" to eat the bread before the meat arrived. Again, I do not see anything that looks like the salt container. And the bread slices were "trenchers" from which our "good trencherman" meaning big eater comes from
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Carpal Tunnel
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The board is sure dead today. Everybody else must be watching Afghanistan news. Makes me feel guilty making so many replies alone and unescorted. But one more challenge to our experts, notice those "trenchers" so nicely uniform in size and shape. The only way I can think of to achieve this would be to bake the bread in a tall perfect ceramic cylinder. But how in hell could they it get out of the pot? No teflon in those days. I have no idea how they baked in those days. Probably in deep ashes in huge fireplace.Anybody know?
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