Etymologically
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ῥήτωρ

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (5th-century BC Attic): /r̥ɛ̌ː.tɔːr/[1]
  • IPA (4th-century AD Koine): /ˈri.tor/[1]
  • IPA (10th-century Byzantine): /ˈri.tor/[1]

Forms

ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr) m (genitive ῥήτορος, diminutive ῥητορῐ́σκος); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is an agent noun of εἴρω (eírō, “to speak”), analysable as ῥη- (rhē-) + -τωρ (-tōr), from Indo-European Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to speak”).[1][2] As the name of a profession it was created in the official language of Athens; its older function as a plain agent noun survives in Euripides' “speakers of words” (Hecuba 124), which echoes the Homeric ῥητήρ (rhētḗr) “speaker” of the Iliad (9.443).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the 5th century BC, in Sophocles and Euripides, for a speaker or announcer.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

At Athens οἱ ῥήτορες were the men who spoke in the Assembly and proposed motions, that is the politicians (Aristophanes, Thucydides, Andocides, Lysias).[4][5] Plato and Aristotle use it for orators in general.[5] Sophocles once uses it for one who gives sentence, a judge.[4] In Roman Egypt it was an advocate in court, and later a teacher of eloquence, a rhetorician;[4] Lucian speaks of the Ten Attic Orators, and for Hermogenes “the orator” is Demosthenes.[4]

Its derivatives include ῥητορικός (rhētorikós) “oratorical, rhetorical” and ῥητορεύω (rhētoreúō) “to practise oratory”.[2][1] Latin borrowed it as rhetor, which came through Old French into late 14th-century English as rhetor, “a master or teacher of rhetoric”.[6][7] The modern form is Modern Greek ρήτορας (rítoras).[1]

Timeline

  • 5th century BC – Sophocles and Euripides use it for a speaker.[2][4]
  • 5th–4th century BC – Aristophanes and Thucydides use it for the speakers in the Assembly.[4][5][8]
  • 1st century AD – Papyri use it for an advocate.[4]
  • 2nd century AD – Lucian names the Ten Attic Orators.[4][8]
  • Late 14th century – English borrows rhetor.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A public speaker, orator.[4][5]
  2. At Athens, a speaker in the Assembly; a politician.[4][5]
  3. A judge.[4]
  4. An advocate, attorney.[4][1]
  5. A teacher of eloquence, a rhetorician.[4][1]

Word family

  • ῥητορεία (rhētoreía)
  • ῥητορεύω (rhētoreúō)
  • ῥητορικός (rhētorikós)
  • Latin rhetor
  • English rhetor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Rodríguez Adrados, Francisco, et al., eds. (1980–), Diccionario Griego-Español, Madrid: CSIC, http://dge.cchs.csic.es/xdge