cautor

Forms

cautor m (genitive cautōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin caveō (“to be on one's guard”) + -tor.^[2][3] De Vaan lists it, with cautus, cautiō and cautēla, among the derivatives of the verb found from Plautus on.^[3] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *kawē- and Proto-Indo-European *kouh₁-éie- (“to perceive”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it in the Captivi of a careful man, in a remark that even the man who thinks he has taken precautions is often caught.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Plautus also uses it, in jest, in the Epidicus, where the wary one is himself caught.^[4][6] Cicero uses it of one who wards off danger from another or stands bail for him: the cautor alieni periculi.^[7][5][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a wary man.^[4][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of one who guards another against danger.^[7][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who is on his guard, who takes precautions.^[2][7]
2. One who wards off danger from another; a surety, one who stands bail.^[7][6]

References

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