aggressor

Forms

aggressor m (genitive aggressōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin aggredior + -tor, the agent noun of the verb meaning “to approach, attack”.^[2][3][1] The verb is a compound of gradior (“to step”) with ad-; its participle ⟨aggressus⟩ has the regular ⟨-e-⟩ of a non-initial syllable.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The legal writers quoted in the Digest and the Sententiae of Paulus use it of attackers and robbers: those who harbour robbers are said to be no less guilty than the attackers themselves.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It was at first a word of the lawyers, often meaning a robber who attacks travellers, and is paired with latrones “brigands”.^[5][6][3] The OLD spells it also adg-.^[2] In verse Juvencus uses it of an attacker who must first bind the arms of the guards, and Augustine says that in paradise no thief or attacker was feared.^[3][6] The Code of Justinian says that whoever kills an aggressor need fear no charge.^[3]

Medieval Latin kept the senses “assailant” and “robber”; in an Old English glossary it is glossed with words for a robber.^[7][8] English borrowed it in the 1670s for the person who attacks first.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 325 AD – Juvencus uses it in his verse Gospels.^[3][10]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine says that no robber or attacker was feared in paradise.^[3][6][10]
• 533 AD – The Digest collects the jurists' passages that use it.^[5][10]
• 1670s – English borrows it as aggressor.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An attacker, assailant.^[2][5]
2. (law) A robber who attacks people, a highwayman.^[5][6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de