The word “latrine,” or latrina in Latin, was used to describe a private toilet in someone's home, usually constructed over a cesspit. Public toilets were called foricae. They were often attached to public baths, whose water was used to flush down the filth.
The Roman world had both private and public toilets - latrinae were individual toilets (domestic or public), foricae (singular forica) were multi-seat, open concept facilities that were often found in public areas near water features, sewer lines, or balneae (Roman bathing facilities).
On the Throne. A toilet in a castle was known as a garderobe. Located next to the master's bedchamber, the garderobe was private and convenient. Waste dropped directly into a cesspit or the castle's moat below.
Medieval toilets, just as today, were often referred to by a euphemism, the most common being 'privy chamber', just 'privy' or 'garderobe'. Other names included the 'draught', 'gong', 'siege-house', 'neccessarium', and even 'Golden Tower'.
The Privy. A privy was basically an unlined cesspool in the ground with a wooden hut built over it. A wooden shelf stretched across, with a nice, bottom sized hole in the middle. You sat here and did your business, with your waste dropping down into the hole.
The Privy. Rarely used these days, 'the privy' originally meant a hidden place or the sharing of secret or private thoughts. Over time, however, especially in the North of England and Scotland, the word privy was conflated with toilet, and eventually, this new meaning supplanted the old meaning.
Options included rocks, leaves, grass, moss, animal fur, corn cobs, coconut husks, sticks, sand, and sea shells.
He built one in his house (the Queen did, too). However, it was expensive. It cost £1 10 shillings and 8 pence to build – a year's wages for a male servant. Toilets were called 'privies'.
“Latrine” reportedly was derived from the Latin “lavatrina” (for bath or privy) while “lavatory” comes from the Latin “lavare,” meaning “to wash.”
Interior of a late 13th-century garderobe at Chirk Castle in Wales. The term garderobe is also used to refer to a medieval or Renaissance toilet or a close stool.
Water Closet (WC)
Often used on signage in restaurants or public spaces, water closet or WC originates from the 1870s, when toilets were often called “wash-down closets”.
The toilets displayed the company logo 'Thomas Crapper & Co Ltd'. The US soldiers stationed in England at the time started referring to the toilet as “the Crapper” and brought that slang term back with them to the United States. The slang word for toilet became more widely taken up and is still being used today.
During military campaigns, vinegar was used by the soldiers diluted in water as a thirst-quenching drink and as a body wash, to counteract the effects of life in the camp and non-serious injuries.
A sponge on a stick
If you went to the toilet in ancient Rome, you would not have any toilet paper. Instead you may have used a sponge (Latin: tersorium) to wipe. These ancient devices consisted of a stick with a vinegar- or salt water-soaked sponge attached. They were often shared!
The ancient Egyptians devised a solution around 2500 B.C., by developing a latrine system into bathrooms. A latrine is a toilet area, usually a public one with limited to no flushing capability.
The loo, the latrine, the lavatory — the nicknames for the porcelain throne are endless!
The WC - Still in use today, the abbreviation WC stems from the term “water closet” which is what we used to call toilets in the Victorian era.
Dental Hygiene in the Elizabethan Era
What did the English do to try to keep their teeth healthy in that time period? They would use quills or wood for toothpicks and wash off plaque with a cloth. (We definitely prefer our modern toothbrushes.)
Roman latrines, or foricae, were part of a sophisticated, interconnected public sanitation system of aqueducts, baths and sewers. According to literary and archaeological evidence, most foricae were not for the modest, the timid or the olfactorily sensitive.
Women in workhouses would usually free-bleed, and the floors of manufacturing mills were often lined with straw or sawdust for absorption. By the end of the Victorian era, 'menstrual belts' made an appearance – cloth belts with absorbent fabric attached to catch the blood.
Today's royals take care of their own personal hygiene. But historically the role of Groom of the Stool was a very important one at court, which involved being responsible for assisting the monarch with their excretion and ablutions.