defector

Forms

dēfector m (genitive dēfectōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēficiō (“to fail; to revolt”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[2][3][4] De Vaan lists dēficiō among the compounds of faciō (“to make, do”), whose stem he traces, probably, to Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is in the prologues to Pompeius Trogus, followed by Tacitus;^[2] Köbler first records it in Tacitus,^[6] who writes of vengeance prepared against the rebels (parāta in dēfectōrēs ultiōne).^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

It names one who abandons his allegiance, a rebel or deserter; it is post-Augustan and mostly plural.^[7][3] Tacitus uses it of rebels against whom revenge was prepared and of people who had also been rebels against his father, and Suetonius and Justin use it too.^[7][2][8] Georges gives Greek ἀποστάτης (apostátēs) as its equivalent.^[3] In medieval Latin the chronicle of Regino uses it of those who had broken away from a king or emperor, and the MLW also records the sense of one who deposes another.^[9]

Timeline

• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of rebels.^[2][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it.^[7][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who revolts or falls away, a rebel, deserter.^[7][10]
2. (Medieval Latin) One who deposes another.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.