Etymologically
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cursor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʊr.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkur.sor][1]

Forms

cursor m (genitive cursōris, feminine cursrīx); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin currō (“to run”) + -tor, built on the stem ⟨curs-⟩.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces currō to Proto-Italic *korse/o- (“to run”) and Proto-Indo-European *krs-e/o- (“to run”); he explains that the nouns in ⟨curs-⟩ are built on the participle, which is itself a later formation.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus;[4][2] in the Trinummus someone steals the ground from under a runner in a race.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a runner, and in particular a runner in a race: Varro compares the body to a runner and the place to the stadium, and Lucretius and Cicero use it so.[2][5] Ovid uses it of a charioteer holding back his eager horse.[5] It is also a messenger or courier: Nepos uses it of Phidippides, a runner of the kind called hēmerodromoe, and Pliny the Elder of Alexander's runner Philonides.[2][5] Under the Empire it is a footman who runs ahead of a carriage: Petronius has a man put into a litter with four decorated runners going before it.[2] It was a cognomen of the Papirii, above all of Lucius Papirius Cursor, consul and dictator in the Second Samnite War.[2][5] In Medieval Latin it also means a court bailiff, a scout riding ahead of an army, a pedlar, and a teacher who gives extra lectures.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a runner in a race.[2][7]
  • c. 100–24 BC – Nepos of a courier.[2]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius of footmen running ahead.[2]
  • c. 1300 – cursor appears in English, first as a surname, “a running messenger”.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A runner; a runner in a race; a charioteer.[2][5][1]
  2. A messenger, courier.[2][5][1]
  3. A footman who runs ahead of a carriage or litter.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A court officer, bailiff; a scout riding ahead of an army.[6]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A pedlar; a teacher who gives extra lectures.[6]

Word family

  • antecursor

Usage notes

As a proper name Cursor was a cognomen, best known from Lucius Papirius Cursor.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b 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 e f g 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. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de