cottabus 的詞源

a Sicilian game ... much in vogue at the drinking parties of young men at Athens. The simplest mode was when each threw the wine left in his cup, so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, at the same time invoking his mistress' name; if the whole fell with a distinct sound into the basin, it was a sign he stood well with her .... The game soon became complicated and was played in various ways. [Liddell and Scott, "Greek-English Lexicon," 1901]

“西西里遊戲……在雅典年輕人的飲酒聚會上非常流行。最簡單的方式是每個人把杯子裏剩下的酒倒出來，使其猛烈地撞擊金屬盆，同時呼喚他的情人的名字； 如果整個杯子的酒都清脆地掉進盆裏，那就意味着他在她心中地位很高……這個遊戲很快變得複雜，有各種各樣的玩法。” [利德爾和斯科特，“希臘-英語詞典”，1901年]

比克斯寫道， kottabos “不僅表示遊戲本身，還表示其中使用的幾個物品和動作”，因此，“由於[ kottabos ]的原始含義不明，所有的詞源學都是不確定的。”

還有一個動詞 kottabizein，“玩 kottabos”，也是“嘔吐”的委婉說法。