# Ancient Roman eating & barfing habits **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012 "2000-10-31T00:29:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/1 "2000-10-31T00:29:18Z")
When I was in grade school (I can’t remember which grade,) I was taught that in ancient Rome, the elaborate parties included feasts so long that the revelers had to vomit up what they had eaten to make room for more. Anyway, we were told that the barfing was done in a special place called a “vomitorium.” Years later, I was attending a football game at Ross-Ade Stadium. The voice on the PA system announced that first aid help was available near the vomitories at the north end of the stadium. A vomitory, in that context, is a tunnel-like entrance to the tiers of the stadium. The word is derived from the same spewing root, and it got me thinking. Is it possible that a misinterpretation of vomitorium (from an entrance to a barfing place) created the idea of the Roman’s bulimic feasts? How firmly documented is the concept? ---
**Author:** ![mellonhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@mellonhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mellonhead)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/2 "2000-10-31T00:48:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AskNott \* > \*\* Is it possible that a misinterpretation of vomitorium (from an entrance to a barfing place) created the idea of the Roman’s bulimic feasts? How firmly documented is the concept? > > \*\* logically I’d say “no”; the latin “vomitare” probably came before the vogue of “purging your food” and building the stadiums. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/3 "2000-10-31T02:58:01Z")
According to the OED, the first use of the word vomitorium was by Aldous Huxley in 1923 in his novel Antic Hay. However, you may like to go [here](http://www.chickenhead.com/features/moss/index.html) or [here](http://www.breworld.com/bgbw/vom.html) to find out what other people are hurling around :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/4 "2000-10-31T03:02:43Z")
VOMITORIUM MUTATUM qui vomuit multos locus est quo nunc homo multum. DUO VOMITORIA hic locus admittit vomituros, ille vomendos. ---
**Author:** ![don\_Jaime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b4bc9f/32.png) [@don\_Jaime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_Jaime)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/5 "2000-10-31T15:05:10Z")
_see it, see it, see it, see it…_ I’d always heard the Romans did this, but, _ **Don’t see it, don’t see it, don’t see it, don’t see it!** _ according to this entry from the OED, it’s “alleged.” Meaning, there’s no hard evidence. [http://www.vomitorium.co.uk/oed.htm](http://www.vomitorium.co.uk/oed.htm) _see it, see it, see it, see it…_ That said, the practice does exist. Get a January 1983 _Nat’l Geographic_ to see an Amazonian Indian (Wayana?) doing this. He doesn’t shift from where he’s eating, but that’s what he’s doing. ---
**Author:** ![mellonhead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@mellonhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mellonhead)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/6 "2000-10-31T20:03:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colin Wilkinson \* > \*\*VOMITORIUM MUTATUM > > qui vomuit multos locus est quo nunc homo multum. > > DUO VOMITORIA > > hic locus admittit vomituros, ille vomendos. \*\* Wow, “show-off” eh? You’re not kidding 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2000, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/7 "2000-10-31T21:27:25Z")
I don’t think it’s true. I don’t have any historical evidence, but come on – do YOU feel like eating right after YOU puke? I know I don’t. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/8 "2000-11-01T02:48:35Z")
Well, I don’t feel like eating right after vomiting, but then I don’t go to parties wrapped in a bedsheet or drink my wine from a lead goblet, either. By the way, can anyone recommend a good site for etymology (word origins?) Thanks for what I’ve seen so far. ---
**Author:** ![heyjoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@heyjoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heyjoe)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancient-roman-eating-barfing-habits/39012/9 "2000-11-02T04:49:30Z")
i may be just halfway through first year latin, but i think i can get it: VOMITORIUM MUTATUM qui vomuit multos locus est quo nunc homo multum. DUO VOMITORIA hic locus admittit vomituros, ille vomendos. mittere is to send, so i’m guessing vomittere would be something like send out or expel. not sure he who vomits in many locations is now greatly human (a great man?) two ??? here is the place he recieves (here i’m really confused…looks like vomit but in the genative?)…hmm… i guess i should probably shut up and stop trying. chris