Where is the bathroom?

Greek Learning Greek
1

Any thoughts on how one would say, “where is the toilette?” in ancient Greek…or it’s equivalent, since toilets were a rarity back then?

2

Dear man, my bowels are doing backflips in my belly and I’m in quite some pain holding it back, so I am going to the ὁ κοπρών.

3

Here are several suggestions from the Onomasticon:

Ἑπέσθω δὲ τούτοις καὶ τὰ εἰς ἀπόπατον, εἰς ἀποσκευήν, εἰς εὐμάρειαν, εἰς ἄφοδον, εἰς λάσανα, εἰς κοπρῶνα. τὸν δὲ κοπρῶνα καὶ ἰπνὸν Ἀριστοφάνης καλεῖ.

The above made me think of a comic fragment I saw earlier on the TLG. Cratin.49:

Τὸν Κερκύονά θ’ ἕωθεν ἀποπατοῦντ’ ἐπὶ
τοῖς λαχάνοις εὑρὼν ἀπέπνιξα.

Should τοῖς λαχάνοις be τοῖς λασάνοις? But the LSJ entry on λάσανα tells me that I am too late to make this conjecture: “Cratin.49 (cj. Mein. for λαχάνοις)”

4

ποῦ ἐστιν ὁ ἀφεδρών?

ποῖ ἐρχόμενος οὐρήσω?

τὸν μὲν οὖν τοῦ χέζειν τόπον ζητῶ ἔγωγε.

You’ve mentioned this before, I think. It sounds like something I would be interested in. What is it? Do you have a link?

5

The Onomasticon of Julius Pollux. There is a scan here.

It is a vast vocabulary of Attic Greek, made in the 2nd century AD, organized by subject.