agitator

Forms

agitātor m (genitive agitātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin agitō (“to drive, put in motion”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[2][3] agitō is formed from agō (“to drive”), which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h2eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler first find it in Plautus,^[4][5] who in the Menaechmi uses it of a charioteer in the races of the circus.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

As a charioteer in the games it is used by Lucilius, Cicero, Seneca and Pliny the Younger, and in inscriptions.^[6][7] Virgil uses it of the charioteer of Achilles, and in the Georgics of a peasant driving a slow ass;^[2][7] Columella too has the driver of an ass.^[6] Lewis & Short note that it was used only of those who drive animals.^[8] The Vulgate uses it absolutely of charioteers.^[6]

A medieval poet, Alexander Neckam, uses it of the river Spey as a mover of sand.^[9] English formed its own agitator from the verb agitate in the 1640s, first for the representatives of the common soldiers in Cromwell's army.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a charioteer in the circus.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a charioteer.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a peasant driving an ass and of Achilles' charioteer.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of charioteers.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who drives animals, a drover or driver.^[2][8]
2. A charioteer, especially in the races of the circus.^[2][6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A mover.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com