conservator

Forms

cōnservātor m (genitive cōnservātōris, feminine cōnservātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnservō (“to preserve”) + -tor.^[2][1] cōnservō is a compound of servō (“to keep, watch”), which de Vaan, following Rix, derives from an old noun Proto-Italic *serwā- (“observation”), beside *serwo- (“guard, shepherd”), the source of servus (“slave”); he traces the stem to Proto-Indo-European *ser-u-o- (“guardian”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first, and most often, in Cicero, who calls the immortal gods the guardians and preservers of the city.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a person who preserves, a saviour: Cicero uses it of the preserver of the city, the state and the fatherland, and contrasts the preserver of his enemies with the deserter of his friends.^[2][5] After Cicero it becomes rare except in inscriptions, where it is an epithet of Jupiter, and poets avoid it.^[4][5] Velleius calls Augustus the founder and preserver of the Roman name, and Tacitus tells of a man who took the title in its Greek form.^[5] Tertullian once uses it of a worshipper.^[5] In Medieval Latin it is also the bearer of a letter and an attorney.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the gods as preservers of Rome.^[5][6]
• c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius of Augustus as preserver of the Roman name.^[5][6]
• c. 1400 – English conservator is borrowed through Anglo-French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A preserver, keeper, defender, saviour; an epithet of Jupiter.^[2][5][1]
2. (Late Latin) A worshipper.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) The bearer of a letter; an attorney.^[7]

Related words

• cōnservō
• servō
• English conservator

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com