Re: Vespasian - Emperor transformed into useful object?
in reply to a message by Nanaea
Its amazing how Daividh's urolagnous queries can help propel such a shower of historical tidbits. Vespasian built the Colosseum of Rome, and its quite amusing to learn how he raised capital to finance the project :)
Actually there the names of Toilets in Greece ate quite anticlimaclic. The classical word is "Loutro", meaning "place to bathe". The politically correct euphemism is "To meros" meaning "The place". The vulgar expression is "H xestra" (the "craphouse, I guess). And the westernized "Brussels-compatible" expression, written on airport and restaurant doors, is "W.C." ("water closet, borrowed presumably from the brits).
By the way, taking lead from the name Vespasian aloow me a small etymological digression: the prefixes "Ve-" "Su-" and "Hy" in Latin usually are transliterations of Greek words beginning with an aspirate "E" or "Y".
For example, the Greek "Yper" becomes "Hyper" or "Super" in latin. Esperia ("the west")becomes Vesperia or Vesper. Amusingly, we can trace Greek origins of even seemingly anglosaxon words such as "Westmister" => from Wesper(<= Vesper <= Esperia) + Minster (Monastery <= Monastirion <= monazo "to be alone"<= mono "single").
Actually there the names of Toilets in Greece ate quite anticlimaclic. The classical word is "Loutro", meaning "place to bathe". The politically correct euphemism is "To meros" meaning "The place". The vulgar expression is "H xestra" (the "craphouse, I guess). And the westernized "Brussels-compatible" expression, written on airport and restaurant doors, is "W.C." ("water closet, borrowed presumably from the brits).
By the way, taking lead from the name Vespasian aloow me a small etymological digression: the prefixes "Ve-" "Su-" and "Hy" in Latin usually are transliterations of Greek words beginning with an aspirate "E" or "Y".
For example, the Greek "Yper" becomes "Hyper" or "Super" in latin. Esperia ("the west")becomes Vesperia or Vesper. Amusingly, we can trace Greek origins of even seemingly anglosaxon words such as "Westmister" => from Wesper(<= Vesper <= Esperia) + Minster (Monastery <= Monastirion <= monazo "to be alone"<= mono "single").
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Dang, when will I ever learn to proofread for tuypos before posting???