contubernium

Latin

Etymology

From con- (“with, shared”) +‎ taberna (“hut; tent”) +‎ -ium.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kon.tuˈber.ni.um/, [kɔn̪t̪ʊˈbɛrniʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kon.tuˈber.ni.um/, [kon̪t̪uˈbɛrnium]

Noun

contubernium n (genitive contuberniī or contubernī); second declension

1. (historical military) A squad of soldiers sharing a single tent, usually 6–8 men.
2. attendance (in war)
3. attendance, accompanying (of teachers, friends, etc.)
4. marriage of slaves
5. a dwelling together (referring to animals)
6. a dwelling of different persons
7. (in general) household, company

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	contubernium	contubernia
genitive	contuberniī contubernī1	contuberniōrum
dative	contuberniō	contuberniīs
accusative	contubernium	contubernia
ablative	contuberniō	contuberniīs
vocative	contubernium	contubernia

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

Meronyms

• (unit of soldiers): centuria (10 contubernia); cohors (60 contubernia); legio (notionally 600 contubernia)

Related terms

• contubernālis

Descendants

• → Portuguese: contubérnio

References

• “contubernium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “contubernium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• contubernium 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)
• contubernium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “contubernium”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “contubernium”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin