Etymologically
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conductor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈdʊk.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [konˈduk.tor][1]

Forms

conductor m (genitive conductōris, feminine conductrīx); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin condūcō (“to bring together; to hire”) + -tor, the agent noun of the verb.[2][1] That verb is formed from con- and dūcō (“to lead”),[1][3] which goes back to Proto-Italic *doukō and Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (“to draw, lead”).[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Plautus,[3] in the prologue of the Asinaria, which wishes good fortune to the troupe, its owners and its conductores, the people who hire it.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it named either side of a hiring or contract other than the owner: the person who hires others for wages, the contractor who undertakes a piece of work, and the lessee or tenant of a house or farm.[2][4] L&S calls it rare and mostly used without a complement.[4] It was also used of the contractors who farmed public revenues;[5] Isidore of Seville explains the publicani as such contractors.[5]

Etymonline gives a Late Latin sense “carrier”.[6] Medieval Latin used it for a manager of a manor, an escort, a waggoner and the commander of an army,[7] and English took the word from French in the 1520s in the sense “one who leads or guides”.[6] In New Latin it also names a conductor of heat or electricity.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of those who hire a troupe of actors.[2][4][3]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a contractor who undertakes building work on a farm.[2][4][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the contractor for a public work.[2][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of tenants whose yearly rents were remitted.[2][8]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville explains the publicani as contractors for the public revenues.[5][8]
  • 1520s – English borrows conductor through French, in the sense “one who leads or guides”.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One who hires people for wages, an employer.[2][4]
  2. A contractor, one who undertakes a piece of work or a public contract.[2][5]
  3. A lessee or tenant of a house, farm or the like.[2][4]
  4. (Late Latin) A carrier.[6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) The manager of a manor.[7]
  6. (Medieval Latin) An escort; a waggoner; a military commander.[7]
  7. (New Latin, physics) A conductor of heat or electricity.[1]
  • English conductor

Usage notes

In leases and contracts the conductor stands opposite the locātor or the owner, who lets the property or the work.[5] The feminine is conductrīx.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de