advocatus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ad.wɔˈkaː.tʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ad.voˈkaː.tus]^[1]

Forms

advocātus m (genitive advocātī, feminine advocāta); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle of advocō “to call to one's aid”, used as a noun.^[2][1][3] The TLL and Wiktionary compare Oscan akkatus (“advocates”), perhaps pointing to a Proto-Italic ⟨*adwokātos⟩.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus, of a legal assistant and of a helper.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant one who supports or advises a party in a lawsuit, by counsel or merely by presence, a legal assistant, as in Plautus.^[2][6] From Quintilian it meant a professional pleader, counsel, and advocātus fiscī the representative of the imperial treasury.^[2] From Plautus it also meant a helper, a mediator, a witness.^[2] Döderlein explains that in writers of the Silver Age advocātus is counsel as the client's friend and helper, while causidicus is counsel as a paid pleader.^[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant an advocate, legal assistant, and in canon law one appointed to safeguard a client's rights before a church tribunal.^[8] Medieval Latin used it for an attorney, a trustee, a guardian, and an oath-helper, and it was borrowed into Germanic as Vogt.^[9][5] It survives in Italian avvocato, French avoué and Spanish abogado, and Old French avocat gave English advocate in the mid-14th century.^[1][3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a legal assistant.^[2][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a professional pleader.^[2][5]
• 7th century – The Visigothic laws use it.^[5]
• mid-14th century – English advocate is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A legal assistant, counsellor.^[2]
2. A pleader, advocate, advocātus fiscī, counsel for the treasury.^[2]
3. A helper; a mediator; a witness.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) An attorney; a trustee; a guardian.^[9]

Related words

• advocāta
• advocātiō
• advocō
• vocō
• English advocate

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from causidicus, a pleader by trade.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill