vestibulum

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin vestibulum (“a forecourt, entrance court; an entrance”). Doublet of vestibule.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /vɛˈstɪb.jəl.əm/
• Rhymes: -ɪbjʊləm

Noun

vestibulum (plural vestibula)

1. (zootomy) A cavity into which, in certain bryozoans, the esophagus and anus open.
2. (anatomy) The vestibule of the ear.

Derived terms

• vestibular
• vestibulo-

References

• “vestibulum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Latin

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibilities include:

• From vestiō (“to dress, clothe, vest”) +‎ -bulum (“place, location”, nominal suffix).
• From unattested *vestis ("a feeding") or *vestus ("fed"), from the Proto-Indo-European root *wes- (“to graze”).
• For *verostabulum, from unattested *verus or *verum ("door") (cf. aperiō) and stabulum.
• From verrō (“I sweep”)
• From unattested *vestis, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wéstis, which is equivalent to Old English wist (“being,existence”)
• From vestis +‎ stabulum
• From vē- +‎ stabulum

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /u̯esˈti.bu.lum/,
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /vesˈti.bu.lum/,

Noun

vestibulum n (genitive vestibulī); second declension

1. (literally) enclosed space between the entrance of a house and the street, forecourt, entrance court

   Coordinate term: ātrium

   1. (transferred sense) entrance (to anything)

   Synonyms: iānua, ingressus, līmen, initium, porta, ingressiō, foris

   Antonym: abitus

2. (figurative) beginning

   Synonyms: initium, prīmōrdium, prīncipium, līmen, orīgō, exordium

   Antonym: fīnis

   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita I.45:

     in vestibulo templi Dianae

     In the vestibule of Diana's temple

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Descendants

References

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