actor

Forms

actor m (plural actores, feminine actriz, feminine plural actrices)^[1] Old and dialect forms include ator, attor and auctor.^[2] Aztor was recorded in Spain in 1918, and aitor and autor in Mexico.^[2] The feminine is actriz for the performer and actora for a party to a lawsuit.^[3][1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin āctor (“one who drives; doer, performer; pleader in a lawsuit”), a learned word.^[4][3][1] The Latin noun is formed from agō (“to drive, do”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[5][1] The Latin verb continues Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”), a root shared with ἄγω (ágō, “to lead”).^[1] The feminine actriz, dated 1780 by the BDELC, is from Late Latin actrix.^[4][3]

Moliner derives the legal sense “plaintiff” from auctor instead, the source of autor; the DLE gives the same Latin source as for the performer.^[6][3] In Old Spanish the word also meant “author”, and the Academy lists that use apart, as an obsolete form of “author”.^[7][3]

The same Latin word is French acteur, Italian attore and Portuguese ator.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Aragonese Vidal Mayor of about 1250 has it for the plaintiff in a lawsuit: ni al actor deue uenir dayano por alongamiento de su dreito “nor should harm come to the plaintiff by delay of his right”.^[10] The BDELC dates the sense “plaintiff, accuser” to the second half of the 13th century.^[4] Berceo's Loores de Nuestra Señora and the Libro de Alexandre, both known from later copies, use it for “author”: de cor sé los actores “I know the authors by heart”.^[10][7]

Semantic evolution

In medieval and legal texts the word was mainly the plaintiff or accuser, as in Alfonso X's Espéculo and the Ordenanzas reales of Castile.^[2][7] Alonso de Palencia has the form attor in 1490.^[2][7] The sense “author” was common until the 15th century, in the Cancionero de Baena and Santillana.^[7]

The Diccionario de Autoridades says that the literal sense “one who does” is used only among stage players, who call a good performer buen actor; otherwise the word is legal.^[11] The BDELC dates the sense “player” from that dictionary, 1726.^[4] The Academy's dictionary of 1770 put that sense first and added that Spanish theatres more often said comediante.^[12] Terreros also gave it for the comic actor and for “author”.^[13] The modern dictionary adds a person who feigns or exaggerates, and any participant in an action.^[3]

Timeline

• 1240–1250 – actores “authors” in the Libro de Alexandre, known from a 15th-century copy.^[10][7]
• c. 1250 – actor “plaintiff” in the Vidal Mayor.^[10]
• before 1300 – the Espéculo of Alfonso X uses it in its legal sense.^[2][7]
• 1490 – Alonso de Palencia's dictionary has the form attor.^[2]
• 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records buen actor among stage players.^[11][4]
• 1770 – the Academy puts the theatrical sense first.^[12]
• 1780 – first record of the feminine actriz.^[4]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology, from Latin actor.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who plays a role (papel) in the theatre, cinema, radio or television; an actor (feminine actriz): Es un actor muy conocido en el teatro clásico.^[3][1]
2. (colloquial) A person who exaggerates or feigns (fingir).^[3]
3. A participant in an action or event; also as an adjective.^[3]
4. (law) The plaintiff (demandante) or accuser (feminine actora); also as an adjective, as in la parte actora.^[3][1]

Related words

• acto
• actuar
• acción
• agente
• autor
• Latin āctor

Usage notes

Actor de reparto is a supporting actor and primer actor the lead.^[6][15] The DLE keeps a third actor, an obsolete form of autor from Latin auctor.^[3][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. actor
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. actor
4. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. acto
5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. actor
6. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. actor
7. ^ a b c d e f g Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 121
8. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 13
9. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 406
10. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. actor
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 71
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 62
13. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 26
14. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 18
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. actor
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 16