benefactor

Forms

benefactor m (genitive benefactōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin benefaciō (“to do good, confer a benefit”) + -tor.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL calls it a word of the Christians; its first example is from Eustathius' translation of Basil's work on the Creation, where everything visible bears the monuments of the benefactor, God.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Corippus uses it in the 6th century,^[5][4] and a gloss equates it with beneficus.^[2] In Medieval Latin it meant a benefactor in the same way:^[6][7] Lanfranc's Constitutions assign psalms to be said for the friends and benefactors of the community; from the 12th century charters and records name benefactors of churches and houses.^[8]

English borrowed it in the mid-15th century, especially for one who endows a charitable institution.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 400 AD – Eustathius uses it of God as benefactor.^[2][4]
• 6th century AD – Corippus uses it in his panegyrics.^[5][4]
• c. 1188 – An English charter calls an archdeacon “our dearest friend and benefactor”.^[8]
• mid-15th century – Borrowed into English as benefactor.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) One who confers favours, a benefactor.^[5][2][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) A patron or donor of a church or religious house.^[8][6]

Related words

• benefaciō
• beneficium
• English benefactor

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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c 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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com