translator

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English translatour,^[2][3][4] partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman translatour and translateur,^[5][6][2] and partly directly from Latin trānslātor,^[5][7][2] formed from trānslātus, the past participle of transferō (“to carry over, transfer”), with the suffix -or.^[5][7][4] In classical Latin a translator was someone who transferred a thing from one person to another; post-classical Latin used it for a translator of texts from the 4th century and for a copyist from the 5th.^[5] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1212 in the sense of a person who renders a text into another language,^[8] and the OED dates this sense to the beginning of the 13th century in Old French.^[5] The Shorter Oxford adds that later uses were formed directly from the verb translate.^[9] Modern French translateur now means chiefly a transmitter.^[5] Johnson derived the word from the old French translateur.^[10] It is related to translation and transfer.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who translates written works from one language into another: before 1382, in a prologue to the early version of the Wycliffite Bible, which mentions the seventy translators of the Bible from Greek.^[5][2] Etymonline dates the word to the mid-14th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense of a translator of texts has stayed central;^[5][9] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who turns anything into another language.^[10] From 1535 to 1676 the word also meant a person who transfers or moves something from one place to another, following the Latin sense.^[5][9] From 1594 it was used of a person who transforms or alters a thing, and especially of a cobbler or tailor who refashioned old shoes or clothes,^[5][9] a sense Merriam-Webster labels British;^[6] in the slang Henry Mayhew recorded in 1851, translators were the second-hand shoes or clothes themselves.^[5] The sense of an interpreter who translates speech between people is recorded from 1850, and that of a person who renders something in a new form or medium from 1855.^[5] Technical senses followed the verb translate:^[5] a telegraph device that automatically passes a message further along the line (1855–1927), a relay station that retransmits television signals on another frequency (1956),^[5][11] and in computing a punched-card machine (1952) and a program that converts instructions from one programming language into another (1957).^[5][11]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a person who translates written works into another language.^[5][2]
• 1535 – a person who transfers or moves something (obsolete by 1676).^[5]
• 1594 – a person who alters a thing, especially one who refashions old clothes or shoes.^[5]
• 1850 – an interpreter between speakers of different languages.^[5]
• 1851 – slang, second-hand repaired clothes or shoes.^[5]
• 1855 – a telegraphic repeater (obsolete by 1927).^[5]
• 1957 – a computer program that converts one programming language into another.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who translates writing or speech from one language into another: She works as a translator of Polish novels.^[11][6][5]
2. A machine or program that translates from one language to another.^[11][6]
3. (computing) A program that converts a program written in one programming language into another.^[11][5]
4. A relay transmitter that receives a signal and retransmits it on a different frequency.^[11][5]
5. (historical) A person who repaired and refashioned old clothes or shoes.^[6][5][9]

Word family

• translatorial

Related words

• transfer
• translate
• translation
• translatory

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
11. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins