auctor

English

Noun

auctor (plural auctors)

  1. Obsolete form of author.
    • 1558, Bartho[lomew] Traheron, An Exposition of a Parte of S. Iohannes Gospel Made in Sondrie Readinges in the English Congregation []:
      And the ſumme, and meaninge of the wordes, which he now ſetteh forth is this, that the lorde Ieſus, though he ioigned vnto him mãnes nature in time, yet is æterne before al time, without beginning, & the verie auctor, maker, & prince of al men, high and low, and the true fountaine of al goodnes, righteouſnes, and holines, and of al the benefites, and graces, that at anie time haue ben giuen to mẽ, ſithens the begĩninge of the world, or ſhable giuen hereafter to the ende of the world.
    • 1565, Thomas Dorman, A Disproufe of M. Novvelles Reproufe, Antwerp: [] Iohn Laet, page 206:
      Yow ſee that he is a plaine makebate, and to mende his cauſe by ſetting the doctours at variance betwene them ſelues, how he heweth, mangleth, and cutteth awaie from the auctors that he alleageth, wordes, yea ſentences to ſerue his purpoſe.
    • 1583, William Fulke, A Defense of the Sincere and True Translations of the Holie Scriptures into the English Tong, Against the Manifolde Cauils, Friuolous Quarels, and Impudent Slaunders of Gregorie Martin, One of the Readers of Popish Diuinitie in the Trayterous Seminarie of Rhemes, London: [] Henrie Bynneman, for George Bishop, pages 30–31:
      But if wee would bring any booke out of credite by denying the auctor whoſe title it hath borne: wee would rather intitle it to ſome other writer of leſſe credite, or later tyme, or by ſome other argumentes proue it vnworthie of credite, not by onely denying it to be the auctors, vnder whoſe name it hath bene receyued.
    • 1598, Iohn Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: [] Arnold Hatfield for Edw. Blount:
      If any thinke I had great helpes of Alunno, or of Venuti, let him confer, and knovve I haue in tvvo, yea almost in one of my letters of the Alphabet more vvordes, then they haue in all their tvventie; and they are but for a fevv auctors in the Italian toong, mine for moſt that vvrite well, as may appeere by the Catalog of bookes that I haue read through of purpoſe for the accompliſhing of this Dictionarie.

Anagrams

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

    From Proto-Italic *auktōr, cognate to Umbrian 𐌖𐌇𐌕𐌖𐌓 (uhtur). Equivalent to augeō (to increase, nourish) +‎ -tor.

    Pronunciation

    Noun

    auctor m or f (genitive auctōris, feminine auctor or auctrīx); third declension

    1. seller, vendor
    2. author, originator
      Synonyms: conditor, creātor
      • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 1.287–288:
        Iāne, fac aeternōs pācem pācisque ministrōs,
        nēve suum, praestā, dēserat auctor opus.
        O Janus, make peace and its ministers everlasting,
        and may the author of such an achievement, having prevailed, not abandon it.
    3. (figuratively) authorship, agency, encouragement
    4. sponsor, advocate
    5. surety, witness, voucher
      Synonyms: testis, arbiter
    6. (poetic) the Creator, God
    7. (also Medieval Latin) one who gives increase (hence: an originator, causer, doer, founder)

    Usage notes

    Normally masculine, but also used occasionally in Classical Latin as a feminine noun referring to a woman (uniquely among agent nouns ending in the suffix -tor). The use of auctor in reference to women is attested as early as Plautus. The separate feminine form auctrīx is attested postclassically in Tertullian and later authors, but never became frequent.[1][2]

    Declension

    Third-declension noun.

    singular plural
    nominative auctor auctōrēs
    genitive auctōris auctōrum
    dative auctōrī auctōribus
    accusative auctōrem auctōrēs
    ablative auctōre auctōribus
    vocative auctor auctōrēs

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    References

    1. ^ Wackernagel, Jacob (2009) [1926] “Lecture II, 3”, in David Langslow, transl., Lectures on Syntax, Oxford University Press, page 431
    2. ^ Nichols, Edward W. (1919) “Verbals in -tor, -ax, -dus, and -ns”, in American Journal of Philology, volume 40, page 374

    Further reading

    • auctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • auctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • "auctor", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
    • auctor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
      • to have as authority for a thing: auctore aliquo uti ad aliquid
      • an historian: rerum auctor (as authority)
      • the writer, author: scriptor (not auctor = guarantor)
      • (ambiguous) to give a person advice: auctorem esse alicui, ut
      • (ambiguous) to have as authority for a thing: auctorem aliquem habere alicuius rei
      • (ambiguous) the book is attributed to an unknown writer: liber refertur ad nescio quem auctorem
      • (ambiguous) statesmen: auctores consilii publici
    • auctor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • auctor in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
    • auctor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

    Middle English

    Noun

    auctor

    1. alternative form of auctour

    Old Irish

    Alternative forms

    • auctar, augtor, ugtar

    Etymology

    From Latin auctor.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈau̯ktor]

    Noun

    auctor m (genitive auctair, nominative plural auctair)

    1. author

    Declension

    Masculine o-stem
    singular dual plural
    nominative auctor auctorL auctairL
    vocative auctair auctorL auctoruH
    accusative auctorN auctorL auctoruH
    genitive auctairL auctor auctorN
    dative auctorL auctoraib auctoraib
    Initial mutations of a following adjective:
    • H = triggers aspiration
    • L = triggers lenition
    • N = triggers nasalization

    Quotations

    • c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 144b3
      Feib fond·úair-som la auctoru, is samlid da·árbuid.
      As he has found it in authors, so he has showed it.

    Descendants

    • Middle Irish: ugdar

    Mutation

    Mutation of auctor
    radical lenition nasalization
    auctor
    (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)
    auctor n-auctor

    Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
    All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

    Further reading

    Portuguese

    Noun

    auctor m (plural auctores, feminine auctora, feminine plural auctoras)

    1. obsolete spelling of autor