instigator

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin instīgātor (“a stimulator”),^[2][3][4] an agent noun from instīgō (“to urge on, incite”),^[2][3] the source of instigate.^[2][5] The Latin verb is formed from in- (“in”) and *stīgō (“to prick, goad”), from Proto-Indo-European *steig- (“to prick, stick, pierce”),^[5][6] which also gave stick.^[5][7] The OED compares French instigateur, recorded in the 14th century.^[2] A feminine form, instigatrix, is recorded in English from the 1610s.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who sets others on; an inciter or stimulator: the first record is in J. Florio's A Worlde of Wordes (1598).^[2] Etymonline likewise dates it to the 1590s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The agent noun followed instigation, recorded from before 1410, and the verb instigate, from 1542.^[8] Etymonline's gloss of the Latin word and the OED's definition are neutral about what is urged,^[3][2] but Johnson (1755) narrows it to one who incites to ill, quoting King Charles on the "malicious author or instigator" of bloodshed.^[9] The verb's definitions in Collins keep that note of urging toward something drastic or unwise,^[10] while the Oxford Dictionary of English defines the noun simply as a person who brings about or starts something.^[11]

Timeline

• 1598 – one who sets others on; an inciter.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who brings about or starts something: The committee named him as the instigator of the walkout.^[11][4]
2. A person who incites or urges others to act.^[2][4][12]

Related words

• instigate
• instigation
• stick
• stigma
• instinct

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam