Latin

Noun

epulum n, f pl ‎(genitive epulī); second declension

1. feast, banquet
2. (plural) dishes, meats.
3. (plural, figuratively) food.

Usage notes

The plural form epulae may be used separately as a singular noun.

Inflection

This noun is heterogeneous, having neuter second declension in the singular and feminine first declension in the plural.

It, however, may later be found in the standard Second declension.

Related terms

• epulae
• epulāris
• epulō
• epulor

References

• epulum in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• epulum in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• EPULUM in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “epulum”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• Meissner, Carl; Auden, Henry William (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) to load the tables with the most exquisite viands: mensas exquisitissimis epulis instruere (Tusc. 5. 21. 62)
    
  • (ambiguous) during dinner; at table: inter cenam, inter epulas
    
  • (ambiguous) to entertain, regale a person: accipere aliquem (bene, copiose, laute, eleganter, regio apparatu, apparatis epulis)
    
• epulum in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers