obsonium

Latin

Alternative forms

• opsōnium

Etymology

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀψώνιον (opsṓnion).

Noun

obsōnium n (genitive obsōniī or obsōnī); second declension

1. food, victuals, groceries
   • c. 69 CE – 122 CE, Suetonius, De vita Caesarum 4 37:

     Nepōtātus sūmptibus omnium prōdigōrum ingenia superāvit, commentus novum balneārum ūsum, portentōsissima genera cibōrum atque cēnārum, ut calidīs frīgidīsque unguentīs lavārētur, prētiōsissima margarīta acētō liquefacta sorbēret, convīvīs ex aurō pānēs et obsōnia appōneret, aut frūgī hominem esse oportere dictitāns aut Caesarem.

     • 1889 translation by Alexander Thomson

       In the devices of his profuse expenditure, he surpassed all the prodigals that ever lived; inventing a new kind of bath, with strange dishes and suppers, washing in precious unguents, both warm and cold, drinking pearls of immense value dissolved in vinegar, and serving up for his guests loaves and other victuals modelled in gold; often saying, " that a man ought either to be a good economist or an emperor."

2. provisions, shopping, groceries

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	obsōnium	obsōnia
genitive	obsōniī obsōnī1	obsōniōrum
dative	obsōniō	obsōniīs
accusative	obsōnium	obsōnia
ablative	obsōniō	obsōniīs
vocative	obsōnium	obsōnia

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

References

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