ballator

Pronunciation

• Classical: [balˈlaː.tɔr]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [balˈlaː.tor]^[1]

Forms

ballātor m (genitive ballātōris, feminine ballātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ballō (“to dance”) + -tor.^[1][2][3] The OLD compares Ancient Greek βαλλίζω (ballízō).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in an inscription from Rome, set up by the sodālēs ballātōrēs Cybelae, the fellowship of dancers of Cybele, for a deceased member.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The Tironian notes, the Roman shorthand lists, include it beside the feminine ballātrīx.^[2][3] Niermeyer records it in medieval Latin as a dancer,^[6] and it lives on in Italian ballatore.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dancer.^{[4][5][3][7][6]}

Related words

• English ball

Usage notes

It also occurs as a man's surname in an inscription from Africa.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.