Bagnio is a

loan word A loanword (also loan word or loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language. This is in contrast to cognates, which are words in two or more languages that are similar because the ...

into several languages (from it, bagno). In English, French, and so on, it has developed varying meanings: typically a brothel, bath-house, or prison for slaves.

In reference to the Ottoman Empire

The origin of this sense seems to be a prison in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, built on former baths, or a prison for hostages near a bath-house in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

.''Definition of "bagnio" from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary''
Accessed 23 February 2015. Thereafter it was extended to all the slave quarters in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and the Barbary regencies. The hostages of the

Barbary pirates The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...

slept in the prisons at night, leaving during the day to work as laborers,

galley slaves A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar ('' French'': galérien), or a kind of human chattel, often a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing. In the ancient Mediterranea ...

, or domestic servants. The communication between master and slave and between slaves of different origins was made in a ''

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

'' known as ''Sabir'' or

Mediterranean Lingua Franca The Mediterranean Lingua Franca, or Sabir, was a pidgin language that was used as a lingua franca in the Mediterranean Basin from the 11th to the 19th centuries. Etymology ''Lingua franca'' meant literally "Frankish language" in Late Latin, a ...

, a Mediterranean

pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified means of communication that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn from s ...

language with

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

and

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

vocabulary. The

Slaves' Prison The Slaves' Prison ( it, Bagni degli Schiavi, mt, Il-Ħabs tal-Iskjavi) officially known as the Grand Prison ( it, Gran Prigione; mt, il-Ħabs il-Kbir) and colloquially as the ''bagnio'', was a prison in Valletta, Malta. It was established in t ...

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

, which was both a prison and a place where Muslim slaves slept at night, was known as the ''bagnio'' or ''bagno''.

In English

''Bagnio'' was a term for a bath or

bath-house Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender, religious affiliation, personal membership, and other cr ...

. In England, it was originally used to name

coffeehouse A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non-ca ...

s that offered

Turkish baths A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

, but by 1740 it signified a boarding house where rooms could be hired with no questions asked, or a

brothel A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...

.article from Saint Cloud (Minnesota) Journal, Thursday June 24, 1869.

In French

''Bagne'' became the word for the prisons of the galley slaves in the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

; after galley service was abolished, the word continued to be used as a generic term for any hard labour prison. The last one in European France, the ''

Bagne de Toulon The Bagne of Toulon was the notorious prison in Toulon, France, made famous as the place of imprisonment of the fictional Jean Valjean, the hero of Victor Hugo's novel ''Les Misérables''. It was opened in 1748 and closed in 1873. Origins: the ...

'', was closed in 1873. The penal colony on Devil's Island in

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

, which was not shut down until 1953, was also called a ''bagne'', and features in the famous bestseller '' Papillon''.

In fiction

''El trato de Argel'' (''Life in Algiers'', 1580), ''Los baños de Argel'' (''The Bagnios of Algiers'', 1615), ''El gallardo español'' (''The Gallard Spaniard'', 1615) and ''La gran sultana'' (''The Great Sultana'', 1615) were four comedies by

Miguel de Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 Old Style and New Style dates, NS) was an Early Modern Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-emin ...

about the life of the galley slaves, called "caitiffs". Cervantes himself had been imprisoned in

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

(1575–1580). His novel ''

Don Quixote is a Spanish epic novel by Miguel de Cervantes. Originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615, its full title is ''The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha'' or, in Spanish, (changing in Part 2 to ). A founding work of Wester ...

'' also features a subplot with the story of a caitiff (chapters 39-41 of the first part). A bagnio, in reference to a

or boarding house, is mentioned in ''

The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner ''The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner: Written by Himself: With a detail of curious traditionary facts and other evidence by the editor'' is a novel by the Scottish author James Hogg, published anonymously in 1824. The p ...

'' (1824) by

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many ...

as the location of a quarrel between two young

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

nobleman that precedes one of them being murdered and the other arrested for the crime. In ''

The Day of the Locust ''The Day of the Locust'' is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West set in Hollywood, California. The novel follows a young artist from the Yale School of Fine Arts named Tod Hackett, who has been hired by a Hollywood studio to do scene ...

'' (1939) by

Nathanael West Nathanael West (born Nathan Weinstein; October 17, 1903 – December 22, 1940) was an American writer and screenwriter. He is remembered for two darkly satirical novels: ''Miss Lonelyhearts'' (1933) and '' The Day of the Locust'' (1939), set ...

, Claude Estee's wife, Alice, says "Nothing like a good ''bagnio'' to set a fellow up." Frequent mention of a bagnio is made in ''

A Maggot ''A Maggot'' (1985) is a novel by British author John Fowles. It is Fowles' sixth major novel, following ''The Collector, The Magus, The French Lieutenant's Woman, Daniel Martin,'' and '' Mantissa.'' Its title, as the author explains in the ...

'' (1985) by

John Fowles John Robert Fowles (; 31 March 1926 – 5 November 2005) was an English novelist of international renown, critically positioned between modernism and postmodernism. His work was influenced by Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus, among others. Aft ...

, set in 1736 and mainly written in the English of that time. In Fowles' novel, the term denotes a brothel, specifically the one run by 'Mistress Claiborne'.

References

Bibliography

*
"Bagnio"
in Chamber's ''Cyclopaedia'', 1728 {{Authority control Ottoman baths Defunct prisons in Turkey History of slavery Types of coffeehouses and cafés Slave cabins and quarters Slavery in the Ottoman Empire