Latin

Alternative forms

• (with initial di-) diaetārius, diætārius, diētārius
• (with initial z-) zaetārius, zætārius, zētārius

Noun

diaetārius m ‎(genitive diaetāriī or diaetārī); second declension

1. a slave responsible for room service, a valet-de-chambre
2. (nautical) a cabin steward
3. (Late Latin) a slave or servant who serves at the dining table, a table waiter
4. (Medieval Latin, by misassociation with diēs, “a day”) a day-labourer

Declension

Second declension.

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Synonyms

• (valet-de-chambre): diaetarchēs

Descendants

• Ancient Greek: δῐαιτᾱ́ρῐος ‎(diaitā́rios)

References

• dĭaetārĭus in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• DIÆTARII in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “dĭætārĭus”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette, page 517/3.
• “diaetārius” on page 535/3 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• “dietarius (subst.)” on page 330/1 of Jan Frederik Niermeyer’s Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus (1976)