collusor

Forms

collūsor m (genitive collūsōris); third declension^[1] It is also spelled conlūsor.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin collūdō (“to play together”) + -tor.^[2][1][4] That verb is formed with con- from lūdō (“to play”),^[2] which goes back to Proto-Italic *loid-e/o- (“to play”) and Proto-Indo-European *loid- (“to let go frequently, play”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucilius,^[6] in the sense of a fellow gambler: Coelius, collūsor Gallōnī, “Coelius, the gaming partner of Gallonius”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a companion in play, of children and of games of skill: Seneca uses it of the partner to whom a good player throws the ball differently according to his height,^[2][7] Pliny the Younger of a dolphin that carried boys and played with them, and Juvenal of a puppy as a country child's playmate.^[2][7] It was used especially of a fellow gambler at dice: Cicero speaks of land shared out comprānsōribus tuīs et collūsōribus, “among your fellow diners and fellow gamblers”.^[2][6] An inscription uses it of fellow participants in Salian song and dance.^[7]

In the jurists and in the Theodosian Code it took on the sense of one who acts in collusion with another to the harm of a third party.^[2][3][7] Medieval writers used it of a playmate, of a fellow mocker, and of a partner at dice: a Lincoln statute of about 1425 complains of someone who plays at dice without stopping and loses twice to suum collūsōrem sīve illūsōrem, “his fellow player or deceiver”.^[8][9]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a gaming partner.^[2][10]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of fellow gamblers.^[2][10]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a partner at ball games.^[2][10]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of a child's puppy.^[2][10]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of people acting in collusion.^[2][10]
• 438 AD – The Theodosian Code uses it in the legal sense.^[3][10]
• c. 1425 – A Lincoln statute uses it of a partner at dice.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A playmate, playfellow (also of animals).^[2][3]
2. A fellow gambler, a partner at dice.^[2][7]
3. (law) One who acts in collusion, an accomplice.^[2][3][11]
4. (Medieval Latin) A fellow mocker.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.