inventor

Forms

inventor m (plural inventores, feminine inventora or inventriz, feminine plural inventoras or inventrices)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin inventor (“discoverer, deviser”).^[2][1] The Latin noun is formed on inveniō (“to come upon, find”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[3] The verb is in- and veniō (“to come”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to come”).^[1][4] Corominas lists it among the learned words of the family of venir, beside inventar, invención and inventario.^[5][6]

The same Latin word was taken as Portuguese inventor, Catalan inventor, French inventeur and Italian inventore.^[1][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DEMel's first record is inuentor in a Bible translation of about 1400.^[9] The Old Spanish Textual Archive has it next in the translation of Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed (Mostrador y enseñador de los turbados), in a manuscript of 1419–1432.^[10] Corominas dates it from about 1440, in Alfonso de la Torre and Juan de Mena.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Autoridades called it “a purely Latin word” and gave three senses: the first person to find or devise an art, science, machine or secret; one who introduces a new custom or fashion; and one who invents things at will and without grounds.^[11] The Academy kept the first and last of these from 1817 on.^[12][13] From 1884 it is entered as an adjective also used as a noun, with the etymology from Latin inventor.^[14] In the Americas Oviedo called Columbus primer inventor e descubridor of the Indies in 1548, “first finder and discoverer”.^[15]

Timeline

• c. 1400 – inuentor in a Bible translation.^[9]
• 1419–1432 – in the Castilian translation of Maimonides' Guide.^[10]
• c. 1440 – Alfonso de la Torre and Juan de Mena.^[5][6]
• 1546 – first record in the Americas, at Santo Domingo.^[15]
• 1591 – Percyvall glosses it with English inventor.^[16]
• 1734 – Autoridades gives three senses and calls it a Latin word.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy gives the Latin etymology.^[14]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person: one who invents something (inventar); usually as a noun, an inventor: el inventor de la máquina de vapor.^[2][1][17]
2. Who makes things up or fabricates them with no basis but his own whim; also as a noun.^[2]

Related words

• inventar
• invento
• invención
• inventario
• venir
• Latin inveniō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. inventor
3. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 770
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. venir
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. inventor, -ora
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
10. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 4, 302
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 501
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 441
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 607
15. ^ a b Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. inventor
16. ^ Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 159
17. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. inventor