sterceia

Perhaps a humorous formation stercus (“dung, manure”) +‎ -eius (nomen-gentilicium-forming suffix) in Tertullian. Compare to stertēia.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [stɛrˈkɛj.ja]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [st̪erˈt͡ʃɛː.ja]

sterceia f (genitive sterceiae); first declension

1. a maidservant who cleans the excrement from children
   • c. 160 CE, Tertullian, Adversus Valentinianos 8:

     Quārē nōn et sterceiae et syntrophī nōminantur?

     Why are excrement maids or childhood companions not also named?

First-declension noun.

• “sterceia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• sterceia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.