Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #125
April 18, 2010
(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)
125.) Laconicum
-noun singular
a.) A sauna, or vapor-bath.*
b.) The sweat room in a Roman bath.
c.) A Roman archaeological term referring to the chamber in a bathing-establishment warmed by means of air artificially heated.
[Origin: Possibly from the name of the Greek prefecture of Laconia (the capital of which was Sparta) since the Laconians used such a dry or sudorific bath, avoiding the use of warm water as enervating.]
*Also referred to by Cassius as the Laconium Gymnasium or “naked-place sauna” thus inevitably attracting members of the tribe.
