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Inspired by this question A good word for waiter or waitress I'd like to know what duties a cellarius had in antique times.
The German word for waiter, Kellner, is a loan from cellarius, but it acquired its present day meaning only recently (18th century).
Here is the little I could glean from the literature about the actual tasks of the cellarius. Celarii are mentioned frequently enough in texts but there is very little about their tasks, unfortunately.
Wine
(for all of the above see: Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, act 3, scene 2)
Food
In Plautus' Captivi, Hegio makes Ergasilus his cellarius (act 4, scene 3). Ergasilus is ecstatic about this; it means free food! He makes a little speech that tells us that the cellarius:
In Martial 11.31, the cellarius seems to be preparing some sort of hors d'oeuvre - capelliana in rue leaves.
Not the cook or other household slave
As noted above, Ergasilus mentions butchers specifically, indicating that they are a separate type of servant.
Cellarii are also distinguished elsewhere from cooks, pastry chefs, and household servants generally (see: Seneca, Epistles, 122.16; Columella, On Agriculture, 12.2)
It's not much to go on, I'm afraid! I include a link here to William Smith's entry on cella, which gives more information on the sort of things kept in cellars which may pad out our picture of the cellarius' job a little.
