bellator

Forms

bellātor m (genitive bellātōris, feminine bellātrīx); third declension^[1] Plautus has the older form duellātor, scanned in three syllables.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin bellō (“to wage war”) + -tor.^[2][1][5] De Vaan lists it under bellum (“war”), older duellum, and finds Pinault's explanation the best: a diminutive *duenelo- of bonus (“good”), "quite brave", used as a euphemism for deeds of valour and then for war.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who uses the old form ⟨duellātor⟩ once, in the Captivi.^[4][2][3] In the Miles Gloriosus he speaks of pure warriors being born.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it means a soldier as someone able to fight, whereas mīles is a soldier by profession.^[3] Used as an adjective it is warlike: Virgil calls Mars the warrior god and has a warhorse, ⟨bellātor equus⟩, step proudly onto the plain.^[2] Glossaries explain it with belliger and pugnator.^[5] Bellator is also attested as a Roman cognomen in inscriptions.^[5] Medieval Latin keeps the sense warrior.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it, once in the form duellātor.^[2][4][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^[7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of Mars and of a warhorse.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A warrior, fighter, soldier.^{[2][3][8][6][1]}

Adjective

1. Engaged in war, martial, warlike;^[2] bellātor equus, a warhorse.^[2]

Related words

• bellō
• bellum
• bellātrīx

References

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