REPRESENTATIONS OF PURIFICATION IN LATIN TERMINOLOGY
REPRESENTATIONS OF PURIFICATION IN LATIN TERMINOLOGY

Summary/Abstract: The study treats the terms relating to the purification, which, although there are not synonyms with the adjective purus, they refer to the idea of cleaning, of physical and moral purity or to the opposite of them. The article insists on terms: referring to the physical action of removing dirt, of erasing, of washing, such as: abstergeo, -ēre, -tersi, -tersum, lavo, -āre, lavi, lavatum, limpido, -āre, verro, -ĕre, the adjective mundus(3); terms that express the exact opposite, meaning corruption, contamination such as the verbs aspergo ,-ĕre, spersi, spersum, lino, -ĕre, polluo, -ĕre, puteo, -ēre, tabeo, -ēre or the substantives caries, -ei(f), cloaca, -ae, deformatio, -onis(f), paedor, -oris(n); terms with a spiritual meaning such as baptizo, -āre, libo, āre, -avi, -atum, or with moral meaning: pudeo, -ēre; terms that describe the place where the ritual of purification takes place: balineum, -i, thermae, -arum, caldaria, -ae. The end of the work paper refers to the importance of purification in the daily life of the Romans, a fact proven by the multitude of terms that express the idea of purification.

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