Etymologically
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auditor

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɔːdɪtɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English auditour,[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman auditour,[4][5][6][7] which is from Latin audītor (“a hearer”),[4][5][8] from audiō (“to hear”).[4][5][6] Merriam-Webster also points to Medieval Latin auditor, one who audits accounts.[9] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1267, meaning a hearer, an examiner of accounts and an arbitrator.[10] In French auditeur replaced the older inherited Old French oieor (“listener, court clerk”).[4][6] Etymonline traces the Latin verb to Proto-Indo-European *au- (“to perceive”).[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

An official who examines and checks accounts, also used figuratively of God: before 1333, in Shoreham's poems, in a copy of about 1350.[2] Etymonline dates this sense to the early 14th century,[6] and the OED to 1377, in Piers Plowman.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Latin audītor meant a hearer, pupil or disciple, and in Medieval Latin also a judge or an examiner of accounts.[6] English took the accounting sense first;[6][4] the OED and Etymonline explain it by the fact that accounts were once checked and vouched for orally.[4][6] The sense "hearer, listener" followed in the late 14th century: the OED's first example is Chaucer's Summoner's Tale (about 1386),[4][6] and Chaucer used auditour both for an accountant and for a hearer.[11] Caxton used it in 1483 for a disciple or one taught by word of mouth.[4] From 1640 it named a judge who hears cases, such as the official of the archbishop's Audience Court.[4] Johnson (1755) gave only "a hearer", quoting Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream: "I'll be an auditor".[12] In North America an auditor has been, since 1933, a student who attends a course without taking it for credit.[4][13]

Timeline

  • before 1333 – an official who examines accounts.[2]
  • 1377 – the same sense in Piers Plowman.[4]
  • c. 1386 – a hearer, listener, in Chaucer.[4]
  • 1483 – a disciple, one taught orally.[4]
  • 1640 – a judge who hears cases.[4]
  • 1933 – a student who audits a course (North America).[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person qualified or appointed to audit and check accounts: The auditors found no errors in the company's books.[13][9][7]
  2. A hearer or listener, especially one of an audience.[13][9][4]
  3. (US, Canada, Australia) A student who attends a class without taking it for credit.[13][4]
  4. A judicial officer who hears cases, as in the archbishop's Audience Court.[4][7]

Word family

  • auditorship
  • subauditor

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
  3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  11. ^ Benson, Larry D., Glossarial Concordance to Middle English (Chaucer, Gower), Johns Hopkins University, github.com/jhu-digital-manuscripts/gcme
  12. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins