contemptor

Forms

contemptor m (genitive contemptōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin contemnō (“to despise”) + -tor.^[2][1][3] De Vaan regards contemnō as older than the simple temnō, which was back-formed from it.^[4] Its further origin is disputed: he weighs Proto-Indo-European *stemb- (“to shake, pound”) against Proto-Indo-European *temh₁- (“to cut”), comparing Ancient Greek τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”) for the second.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records the masculine from Sallust on; the feminine contemptrīx is already in Plautus.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is a person who looks down on others: Livy says that someone was not at all held to despise the plebs.^[2] It is also one who pays no heed to something, as Virgil's contemptor dīvum Mezentius, who scorns the gods.^[2][5] Lewis & Short find it frequent after the Augustan period but not in Cicero or Horace, and note the spelling ⟨contemt-⟩.^[5] In Medieval Latin it is a recusant or rebel.^[6]

Timeline

• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it.^[3][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of Mezentius, scorner of the gods.^[2][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of one who despises the plebs.^[2][7]
• Middle Ages – a rebel.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who looks down on others, a despiser.^[2][5][8][1]
2. One who pays no heed to something, a scorner, contemner.^[2][5][1]
3. (Medieval Latin) A recusant, rebel.^[6]

Related words

• contemnō
• contemptus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson