The use of Dom(i)nulus and Dom(i)nula as terms of endearment in ancient Rome

Abstract

In September 2013, near present-day Via Vitorchiano, located in the northern part of Rome, a Roman fullers’ shop (fullonica) was excavated. Here, customers could hand in garments of all types to be dyed, washed, and dried. Apparently, this fullonica had been installed in late antiquity over a group of funerary monuments: in the filling of one of the tubs a marble slab of 36.5 x 40 x 6 cm was found. The inscription, set up by Lucius Modius Urbanus, commemorates the six-year-old Lucius Modius Nicephorus, who is described as his “best and dearest domnulus” (domnulo optimo et carissimo).