English

Noun

naumachia ‎(plural naumachias or naumachiae)

1. (nautical, in Ancient Rome) The recreation of sea battles in a river basin (or also a flooded amphitheater)
   • 1816, John Keats, "Sonnet - Before he went to feed with owls and bats", Wordsworth Editions (1994), page 270:

     BEFORE he went to feed with owls and bats
     

     Nebuchadnezzar had an ugly dream,
     

     Worse than an Hus'if's when she thinks her cream
     

     Made a Naumachia for mice and rats.

Translations

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ναυμαχία ‎(naumakhía).

Alternative forms

• navmachia

Noun

naumachia f ‎(genitive naumachiae); first declension

1. naumachia
2. an artificial lake for such a battle

Inflection

First declension.

References

• naumachia in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “naumachia”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• naumachia in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• naumachia in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin