Etymologically
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accusator

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ak.kuːˈsaː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ak.kuˈs̬aː.tor][1]

Forms

accūsātor m (genitive accūsātōris, feminine accūsātrīx); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin accūsō (“to accuse”) + -tor, the agent noun.[2][1] accūsō is from ad (“to”) and causa (“cause, lawsuit”).[1] De Vaan finds the origin of causa uncertain: Walde and Hofmann connected it with cūdō (“to strike”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero.[4] The orator Mancinus says in L. Libōnem accūsātor veniō, “I come forward as prosecutor against Lucius Libo”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Accūsātor is the prosecutor in a public trial, the accuser;[2][5] L&S say it is used especially of charges against the state, while petītor is the plaintiff in a private suit.[2][5] The Rhetorica ad Herennium says that the accuser's task is to bring charges.[2] It is also a habitual or professional prosecutor (Cicero of a man who sought no office but was a fierce and troublesome accuser), and Wiktionary adds “informer”.[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “accuser”.[6] English accuser (mid-14th century) comes from it through French.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a professional prosecutor.[2][4]
  • mid-14th century – English accuser, through Anglo-French.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An accuser, prosecutor, plaintiff (in a public trial).[2][5][1][6]
  2. A professional prosecutor.[2]
  3. An informer.[1]

Word family

  • accūsātōrius
  • accūsātrīx

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 g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com