detector

Forms

dētēctor m (genitive dētēctōris); third declension^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is the agent noun from Latin dētegō (“to uncover, reveal”), with the suffix -tor.^[4][1][5] The verb is formed from dē- and tegō (“to cover”),^[6] which goes back to Proto-Italic *teg-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg-e/o- (“to cover”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first to use it, figuratively, in his work against Marcion, where Christ is the “detector creatoris”, the one who reveals the creator.^[4][8][3]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant one who uncovers or reveals, mostly in Christian writers;^[8][4] a scholiast on Statius also uses it.^[4] In the Visigothic laws it is an informer who discloses a crime,^[9][3] and British medieval sources use it in the same sense.^[10]

English borrowed it in the 1540s for one who detects; the sense of a device dates from 1833.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian calls Christ the revealer of the creator.^[4][3]
• 7th century – The Visigothic laws use it of an informer who discloses a crime.^[9][3]
• 14th century – A Scottish church statute gives half of a fine to the informer.^[10]
• 1540s – English borrows it as detector, one who detects.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who uncovers;^[8][4][1] (figurative) a revealer.^[8][4][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) An informer, one who discloses a crime.^[9][10]

Related words

• English detector

References

1. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
2. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ 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