decessor

Forms

dēcessor m (genitive dēcessōris); third declension^[1] Medieval manuscripts also write dedecessor, deudecessor and deundecessor.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēcēdō (“to go away, retire from office”) + -tor.^[3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cicero.^[6][4] In his speech for Scaurus he says of a governor that the man going out of office begrudged his successor: successori decessor invidit.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

It was a term of the Roman provincial administration for a magistrate or governor who was leaving his post, seen in relation to the one who replaced him.^[3][5] Tacitus uses it in the Agricola, and the jurist Ulpian in the Digest;^[5][4] later the Historia Augusta, Symmachus and Ammianus Marcellinus have it for a predecessor in office.^[7] In Late Latin it became a general word for a predecessor, as in Augustine.^[5]

Ecclesiastical Latin used it for a predecessor.^[8] In Medieval Latin it was common in law codes, papal letters and charters: the Visigothic laws, the Liber diurnus and the letters of Pope Nicholas I speak of the decrees and examples of their predecessors.^[2][6] It could also mean an ancestor or parent, and even a successor.^[2] In British sources it appears from a papal letter of 634 quoted by Bede.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an outgoing governor.^[5][4][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it in the Agricola.^[5][4][6]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it in the Digest.^[5][4][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a predecessor in office.^[7][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of a predecessor in general.^[5][6]
• c. 475 – The Visigothic Code of Euric refers to the decrees of predecessors.^[2][6]
• 634 – A papal letter quoted by Bede uses it.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A magistrate retiring from his post, especially a provincial governor, in relation to his successor.^[3][5]
2. (Late Latin) A predecessor in office.^[5][7][8][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) An ancestor, a parent.^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A successor.^[2]

Word family

• praedecessor

Related words

• dēcēdō
• successor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press