Vomitorium

[Bailey]

Vomitorium, an architectural feature in Ancient Roman amphitheatres. A passageway to the rows of seats in a theater.

[From Latin vomitorium, from vomere (to discharge).]

Vomitoria in ancient amphitheaters helped the audience to reach their seats quickly and then, at the end of the performance, leave at an equal speed (hence the name). Thousands of seats could be filled in minutes. The suggestion that a vomitorium was the place for the ancient Romans to vomit during a feast has no basis.

mark now-I-know-what-is-meant-by-vomit.... Bailey

[skinem]

Whew, I'm glad to know that--the other is meaning is what I've always heard.

But, they do have in common "leaving with speed"!

[Perry]

vomit (n.)
c.1386, "act of expelling contents of the stomach through the mouth," from L. vomitare "to vomit often," frequentative of vomere "spew forth, discharge," from PIE base *wem- "to spit, vomit" (cf. Gk. emein "to vomit," emetikos "provoking sickness;" Skt. vamati "he vomits;" Avestan vam- "to spit;" Lith. vemiu "to vomit," O.N. væma "seasickness"). In ref. to the matter so ejected, it is attested from c.1390. The verb is recorded from 1422.

The spewing forth must be what gives the impression of speed.