obsonium

Latin[edit]

Borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀψώνιον (opsṓnion).

obsōnium n (genitive obsōniī or obsōnī); second declension

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."
provisions, shopping, groceries

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

“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