apparitor

Forms

appāritor m (genitive appāritōris); third declension^[1] Also spelled adp-.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin appāreō (“to appear; to attend on”) + -tor.^[3][1] appāreō is a compound of ad (“to”) and pāreō (“to appear; to obey”), which de Vaan reconstructs as Proto-Italic *pās-ē-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“to watch, see”); he compares Albanian pashë (“I saw”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Cato.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is an attendant on a magistrate, such as a lictor, servant or clerk, and Lewis & Short add scribes, military aides and attendants of priests.^[3][2] Cicero uses it in the speeches against Verres and in the Philippics.^[2] In a letter to his brother he uses it figuratively, wishing that the lictor be the attendant not of his own mildness but of his brother's.^[3] Livy, Suetonius and the Bellum Africum have it, and so does the Code of Justinian.^[2] The ancient glossaries explain it as those who obey and serve a commander.^[6] In medieval Latin it is a subordinate of a public officer who carries out orders, and also an armed servant or squire.^[7] Church Latin has “servant, usher”.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato has the word.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of magistrates' attendants.^[3][2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of attendants.^[2][5]
• Medieval Latin – An officer's subordinate; a squire.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An attendant on a magistrate, a lictor, servant, clerk.^[3][2][1]
2. (figurative) An attendant, servant of a quality.^[3]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A servant, usher.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A subordinate of a public officer; an armed servant, squire.^[7]

Word family

• apparitorius

Related words

• appāritiō
• appāreō
• pāreō
• līctor
• minister

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson