-atory

[Porter]

I know the two romantic words lavar (to wash) and dormir (to sleep), and I see a connection to the words dormitory and lavatory.  It looks as though those words might mean place to sleep and place to wash.

So, what does the suffix -atory mean?  What does it come from?  Are there any English words that come from the same root?

What are some other interesting -atory words, along with their meanings?  

[Jonathon]

It's an anglicized version of the French descendant of the Latin suffix -orium or -oria. This was a noun-forming suffix (the OED says "especially nouns denoting a place or instrument used in some process") that attached to past participles, which is where the -it or -at suffix comes from. Some other similar words:

oratory
purgatory
curatory
observatory
factory

I don't know if those are particularly interesting, and you probably already know the meanings. There are also words like auditorium and crematorium that have the original Latin ending.

[Porter]

I know their current meanings, but not the root meanings.

For example, am I correct in assuming that if you break it down into its original roots, lavatory means washroom and that dormitory means place of sleeping?

Oratory -- what's the root, and what does it mean?
Laboratory -- ditto
Purgatory -- a place to purge?
Curatory -- that's a new word to me.  A place of healing?
Observatory -- obvious
Factory -- a place of fabrication?  What's the root?
 

[Jonathon]

Oratory comes from orare, meaning "to speak, plead, or pray." And orator is one who speaks in public or pleads on behalf of someone.

Laboratory comes from laborem, originally meaning "labour, toil, distress, trouble." It's a place where someone labors.

You're exactly right about purgatory.

A curator is one who guards or oversees something. It's from the Latin curare, meaning "to care for" (though curare and care are not related).

The root of factory is facere, meaning "to do or make." Interestingly, the word fact shares the same origin, beginning with the meaning of "something done" and then progressing to "something that has happened" and then to "something known to be true."

[Porter]

Oratory comes from orare, meaning "to speak, plead, or pray."

Fascinating.  The only meaning for that word that survived in the Portuges orar is "to pray".  I didn't make the connection.

Laboratory == Place of labor.  That's just weird.  Any idea how it came to mean a place of experimentation?

The root of factory is facere, meaning "to do or make."

I should have known that as well, from the Portugese fazer, "to make or to do".

A curator is one who guards or oversees something.

I know that word, but I can't even find the word curatory in the dictionary.

[rivka]

Laboratory == Place of labor.  That's just weird.  Any idea how it came to mean a place of experimentation?

I guess you've never watched any of those old black-and-whites where the mad scientist labors day and night for weeks before finally shouting "Eureka!", hmm?
 
 
 
Jonathon, what is the relationship between the verb curare and the poison? Or is it simply the utmost in caring?  

[Jonathon]

Maybe curatory is obsolete. I got it from the OED, which doesn't actually mark it as obsolete, but I've never heard it before either.

The first definition of laboratory in the OED says, "A building set apart for conducting practical investigations in natural science, orig. and esp. in chemistry, and for the elaboration or manufacture of chemical, medicinal, and like products." The etymology says "also ELABORATORY." The definition of that is "A place where chemical operations are performed, or where medicines are compounded."

Elaborate means "to work out" or "to produce by labor," and one of the first definitions of it is "To produce (a chemical substance) from (its) elements or sources; to fashion or develop (an animal or vegetable tissue, etc.); also, to transmute (crude materials) into a developed product."


Rivka, the poison apparently has very different roots: linky.

[Porter]

Elaboratory makes a lot of sense.  Thanks!

[rivka]

Rivka, the poison apparently has very different roots: linky.

Darn!

I liked mine better.

[Jonathon]

:fear:  

[Primal Curve]

San-i-tarium!

[Porter]

A place of sanity!

[pooka]

Roman amphitheaters called the exits vomitoria.  I think.  Maybe it was the place for vomiting- which was considered a normal social function in Rome.

Rectory and Armory are other examples.  The -at- part is from when a latin verb is nominalized, rather than being part of the suffix itself.  I would guess, anyway.  

[Porter]

Rectory -- a place of rectums?

[Jonathon]

Not quite, though they do both trace back to the Latin word for right.

[Primal Curve]

Rectory -- a place of rectums?

Maybe it works the other way. Maybe a rectum is also the home of a priest or minister.    :devil: