agens

Forms

agēns m (genitive agentis); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin agō (“to drive, do; to plead a case”), its present participle used as a noun.^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a noun it is found in Quintilian, for the party who pleads a case in court.^[3][5][1]

Semantic evolution

In the land surveyors it is a surveyor.^[5] In the Late Empire agentēs in rēbus (or agentēs alone) were imperial commissioners and inspectors, named by Ammianus, Aurelius Victor and the law codes.^[5][3] Medieval Latin used it for the agent or representative of a lord or a church, the manager of an estate, and a royal official.^[6][7] In Church Latin it is a doer or agent,^[8] and in scholastic philosophy (Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas) the acting or efficient cause, opposed to what is acted on.^[7][9]

Timeline

• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a pleader in court.^[3][5][7]
• c. 360 AD – Aurelius Victor names the agentēs in rēbus.^[5][7]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus names them too.^[5][3][7]
• 541 AD – Church councils use it of an official or representative.^[7]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it for an acting cause.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pleader, advocate; the plaintiff.^[1][3][5]
2. (Late Latin) A land surveyor.^[5]
3. (Late Latin, usually plural) agentēs in rēbus: imperial commissioners, inspectors.^[5][3]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A doer, agent, actor.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) The agent or representative of a lord or a church; the manager of an estate; a royal official.^[6]
6. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) An acting or efficient cause.^[7][9]

Usage notes

Agēns is also the present participle of agō, used as an adjective for “active, lively”: Cicero speaks of imāginēs agentēs, vivid images, and Varro of verba agentia, active verbs.^[3][10][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Schütz, Ludwig (1895), Thomas-Lexikon, 2nd ed., Paderborn: F. Schöningh
10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company