Everyday LifeGreek → English
Triclinium
/traɪˈklɪniəm/noun
The dining room of a Roman house, furnished with three couches set around a low table.
The Greek roots
τρι-
tri-
three
κλίνη
klínē
couch, bed
Literally: “three couches”
The story of the word
Romans borrowed the room and the word together from the Greeks, who ate reclining on the left elbow. Three couches for nine diners, three to a couch, with the fourth side left open so slaves could serve. The same κλίνη gives us clinic, because a clinician was originally someone who attended the bedridden.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → English
- First recorded
- 17th century
Same family
clinicreclineincline
In a sentence
Excavation revealed the triclinium's mosaic floor almost intact, right down to the painted fish.
Guests in the triclinium ate lying down, propped on one arm.