circulator

Forms

circulātor m (genitive circulātōris, feminine circulātrix); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin circulor + -tor;^[2][3] the OLD gives the verb as ⟨circulō⟩.^[4] The verb comes from circulus (“circle, ring”), which de Vaan derives from circus, probably a loanword from Ancient Greek κρίκος (kríkos, “ring”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in a letter of Asinius Pollio to Cicero, as circulātor auctiōnum, a pedlar who bought at auctions and sold the goods again in the street.^[6][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word named an itinerant performer or seller who drew a crowd around himself:^[4] a juggler, a mountebank or a quack, in Celsus, Seneca, Petronius, Pliny the Younger and Apuleius.^[2][6] Seneca applies it scornfully to noisy philosophers and rhetoricians,^[6][2] and Jerome speaks of a mountebank's trick.^[2] Sidonius Apollinaris uses it of a wanderer.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 76–c. 5 BC – Asinius Pollio uses it of a pedlar of goods from auctions.^[6][3]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of a quack.^[2][3]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of noisy philosophers.^[6][3]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a juggler.^[2][3]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it of a wanderer.^[7][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An itinerant pedlar or performer who gathers a crowd around him.^[4][6]
2. A mountebank, quack, juggler; scornfully, a showy philosopher.^[2][6]

Word family

• circulātōrius
• circulātrīx

Related words

• circulus
• circulō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier