discumbency means A reclining position at a meal table, as was apparently the manner in old times such as in Ancient Rome. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “discumbency” is a great word
DISCUMBENCY — [Noun] The act or posture of reclining at a table, especially during a meal, as was customary in antiquity. From Latin discumbēns, present participle of discumbere ("to lie down, recline at table"), from dis- ("apart") + cumbere, a variant of cubāre ("to lie down"). Formed in English with the suffix -ency. First attested in 1646. Unlike recumbency (which denotes a general, often medical, state of lying down) or accubation (which broadly specifies reclining on a couch), discumbency evokes the specific, social ritual of the symposium. It is the weight of a guest leaning on his left elbow, the deliberate drape of a himation over the edge of the dining couch, and the intimate, precarious angle of reaching for a shared cup—a posture of leisure that turned sustenance into ceremony, now lost to the upright etiquette of chairs.
noun
- A reclining position at a meal table, as was apparently the manner in old times such as in Ancient Rome.“among the Insticutionary rules of youth , he adviseth they might not be permitted to hear Iambicks and Tragedies before they were admitted unto discumbency or lying along with others at their meals”