accubitum

Noun

accubitum (plural accubita)

1. A bench or sofa for reclining at a table; often used by ancient Roman and Greek nobility.
   • This may have been an accubitum with magical qualities of procreation for sterile husbands who slept on this stone.1967, Georges Pillement, Unknown Portugal
   • Seated on the accubitum used at the Last Supper, the disciples are undoing their sandals in preparation for the Washing of the Feet.1974, Chrēstos G. Patrinelēs, Agapē Karakatsanē, Maria Theocharē, Stavronikita Monastery: History, Icons, Embroideries, page 197
2. A round dining table.
   • The circular attic is roofed with a dome, and inside it the oval table - the accubitum - is set, and the disciples around it are untying their shoes.1988, Athanasios D. Kominēs, Patmos: Treasures of the Monastery, page 197
   • This is the interpretation of He is in the bosom of His Father ; for the order led to this ; for they were reclining round an accubitum, that is to say, a circular table ; and the first at the table was our Lord ; but after Him and on His right Simeon; and [it was] of necessity in a round form like...2011, Margaret Dunlop Gibson, The Commentaries of Isho'dad of Merv, Bishop of Hadatha, →ISBN
3. A dining hall or refectory.
   • Half share of dining room on second story, fourth of open air apartment above the accubitum with half of porch, pylon, terrace, passage way and bake shop.1949, Princeton University Studies in Papyrology - Volume 6, page 200
   • The data seems to be consistent with other sources. Around the mid fifth century, for example, we may read of the construction of baths by Bishop Nostrianus and that of a refectory (accubitum), at the episcopal palace, by Bishop Vincent.1991, Paul Arthur, “Naples: a case of urban survival in the early Middle Ages?”, in Mélanges de l'Ecole française de Rome. Moyen-Age, volume 103, number 2