Phrase Translation

[etbombhead]

Does anyone know what the phrase "Lavator Amphorum" means? I have looked on the web but cannot find anything other than pictures of men wearing an apron the same as mine.
Thanks in advance.

[nightmare]

amphorum confuses me.
I think the intended meaning is
bottle washer, or washer of bottles.
In Latin, this should be lavator amphorarum, if my memory of the genitive plural of first declension nouns is correct.
The washer of a bottle (singular) would be lavator amphorae.

Unless, of course, another ABer can correct me.

I have considered the possibility that amphora is a third declension noun, in which case lavator amphorum could be correct, but the plural of amphora is amphorae, confirming it to be first declension.

[TheFool]

Although in English we say "washer of bottles" the bottles don't actually own the washers. The word "of" is confusing you into using the genitive case when it would just be the accusative. So amphoram lavator would simply mean "bottle washer" ... it's probably a made-up Latin phrase anyway.

[Quizmonster]

As you refer to men wearing aprons, this is probably just a joke on the phrase men used to employ when their wives were temporarily ill or away. They'd tell their mates "I'm chief cook and bottle-washer at the moment." That was in the days when domestic roles within a marriage were far more clear-cut than they are nowadays!

[etbombhead]

Thanks for the answers. They sum up my situation at present - as I am playing the role of head cook and bottle washer. The usual wearer of the apron is recovering from hospitalisation. You learn something new everyday.

[fredpuli47]

Yes, it is meant to be 'bottle washer' and it ought to be 'lavator amphoram' not 'amphorum'. However, it could be that the writer did intend the genitive plural and was mistakenly putting 'the washer of (belonging to) the bottles' as a kind of word for word translation of the English when the accusative 'amphoram' was needed. Oddly,the genitive plural can be amphorum, but only when the word is being used to mean not any bottle but a 'set measure of fluid ' , an official measuring bottle or container. Our hero must have had access to some Latin grammar or dictionary, which gave 'amphorum', but not understood this subtlety. (Anyone out there think that Latin is easier than English? LOL)

[nightmare]

If the genitive is not required, why do we have
victor ludorum, rather than victor ludos.
The games no more belong to the winner than the bottles to the washer