agrimensor

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [a.ɡrɪˈmẽː.sɔr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [a.ɡriˈmɛn.sor]^[1]

Forms

agrimēnsor m (genitive agrimēnsōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from ager “field, land” and mēnsor “measurer”, from mētior “to measure”.^[2][1][3] The Thesaurus thinks it was coined after Greek Ancient Greek γεωμέτρης (geōmétrēs, “land measurer”).^[4] De Vaan traces ⟨ager⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *h₂éǵros (“uncultivated field, pasture”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD, Lewis & Short and Gaffiot cite Ammianus Marcellinus.^[2][6][7] Köbler dates Ammianus about 390 AD.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a land surveyor, in Ammianus Marcellinus and Cassiodorus.^[2][6]

In Medieval Latin it kept the sense surveyor.^[8] It survives in Italian agrimensore and Spanish agrimensor, and English borrowed it as agrimensor.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A land surveyor.^[2]

Related words

• ager
• mēnsor
• mētior
• English agrimensor

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill