auceps syllabarum

From auceps (“bird-catcher”) + syllabārum (“of syllables”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈau̯.kɛps syl.laˈbaː.rũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈaːu̯.t͡ʃeps sil.laˈbaː.rum]

auceps syllabārum m (genitive aucupis syllabārum); third declension

1. (derogatory, humorous, hapax legomenon) a person who quibbles over words, argues over semantics or other technicalities; a pettifogger
   • 55 BCE, Cicero, De Oratore 1.236.7:

     Ita est tibi iūris cōnsultus ipse per sē nihil nisi lēguleius quīdam cautus et acūtus, praecō āctiōnum, cantor fōrmulārum, auceps syllabārum.

     And as a result, a lawyer in and of himself ends up being merely some kind of diligent and shrewd legal tradesman, a crier of legal actions, a singer of legal formulas, a trapper of syllables.

Third-declension noun with an indeclinable portion.