carptor

Forms

carptor m (genitive carptōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin carpō (“to pluck; to carp at”) + -tor.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use is in a fragment of Laevius quoted by Gellius, subducti supercili carptores, “carpers with raised eyebrows”, that is, malicious critics;^[4][5][3] the TLL notes that Gellius may have misread a genitive there.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Juvenal it is a carver who cuts up food at table, apparently of poultry and game;^[2][6][3] his scholiast explains it as the servants who cut what is brought in.^[3] Lewis & Short compare scissor.^[6] The sense of a critic returns in Pelagius' commentary on 2 Corinthians, of those who disparage Christ.^[3]

Timeline

• 2nd/1st century BC – Laevius uses it for censorious critics.^[4][3][7]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it for a carver of food.^[2][6][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A carver of food at table.^[2][6][4]
2. A malicious critic, a carper.^[4][5][8][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier