prostibulum

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *per-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *per-der.?

Proto-Indo-European *pér

Proto-Indo-European *-o

Proto-Indo-European *pró

Proto-Indo-European *pro-

Proto-Italic *pro-

Latin prō-

Latin stō

Latin prōstō

Proto-Indo-European *-dʰlom

Proto-Italic *-ðlom

Latin -bulum

Latin prōstibulum

From prōstō (“to prostitute oneself”) + -bulum.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [proːsˈtɪ.bʊ.ɫũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [prosˈtiː.bu.lum]

Noun

prōstibulum n (genitive prōstibulī); second declension

1. a prostitute, harlot

   Synonyms: meretrīx, scortum

   • c. 186 BCE, Plautus, Aulularia 2.4
   • 405 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgata Lev.21.7
2. (Late Latin) brothel

   Synonym: lupānar

   • 405 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgata Ez.16.24

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	prōstibulum	prōstibula
genitive	prōstibulī	prōstibulōrum
dative	prōstibulō	prōstibulīs
accusative	prōstibulum	prōstibula
ablative	prōstibulō	prōstibulīs
vocative	prōstibulum	prōstibula

Descendants

• → Catalan: prostíbul
• → English: prostibule
• → Italian: postribolo
• → Portuguese: prostíbulo
• → Spanish: prostíbulo

References

• “prostibulum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “prostibulum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “prostibulum”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 865/2