Etymologically
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competitor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔm.pɛˈtiː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kom.peˈtiː.tor][1]

Forms

competītor m (genitive competītōris, feminine competītrīx); third declension[1] It is also spelled conpetītor.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + petītor (“candidate, seeker”).[2] petītor comes from petō (“to seek”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *pet-e/o-, explaining its sense as a shift from flying to flying towards, making for; he compares Ancient Greek πέτομαι (pétomai, “to fly”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Varro and Cicero, among prose writers.[4][5] The OLD cites Varro for a fellow candidate.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a fellow candidate or rival for an office, in Cicero, Livy, Quintilian and Suetonius.[2][6] Valerius Maximus uses it of rival claimants awaiting the favour of fortune, and Gellius of rival bidders at a sale.[2] Niermeyer records the medieval sense claimant, and Wiktionary plaintiff.[7][1] English competitor comes from it, perhaps through French, from the 1530s.[8]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a fellow candidate.[2][4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of rival candidates.[6][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius of rival bidders.[2][5]
  • 1530s – English competitor.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fellow candidate, rival, competitor.[2][6][1]
  2. A rival claimant; a rival bidder.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A claimant, plaintiff.[7][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com