Mazonomus

Mazonomus (μαζονόμος, dim. μαζονόμιον, Ath. 4.149 a), from μάζα, a loaf, or a cake; properly a dish for distributing bread: but the term is applied also to any large dish used for bringing meat to table (Varro, de Re Rust. 3.4). These dishes were made either of wood (Pollux, 7.87), of bronze (Ath. 4.136 c), or of gold (Ath. 5.197 f). In the most familiar passage (Hor. Sat. 2.8, 86) we have the mazonomus as a large dish, on which portions of meat sprinkled with meal and salt are brought to table (the theory of pastry is unfounded). There is no ground for assigning the word a special significance as a sacred vessel, though, no doubt, like lanx, &c., it might be used to express a large dish used for sacred as well as for profane purposes. [J.Y] [G.E.M]