disceptator

Forms

disceptātor m (genitive disceptātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin disceptō (“to dispute, judge”) + -tor.^[2][3][4] The OLD analyses disceptō as a compound of dis- and captō (“to try to grasp”),^[2] which de Vaan derives from the participle of capiō (“to take”); he traces that verb to Proto-Italic *kap-i- and Proto-Indo-European *kh₂p-i- (“to seize”), which may also be a root from outside Indo-European.^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek κάπτω (káptō, “to gulp down”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler record it first in Plautus' Mostellaria.^[3][6][4]

Semantic evolution

It is one who examines a dispute in order to decide it, an arbitrator or judge.^[2][7] Cicero defines it as the one who governs the matter and the verdict, rei sententiaeque moderator,^[4] and in his laws the praetor is to be iuris disceptator, judging private cases or having them judged.^[4] He contrasts a disceptator at home with a judge in court,^[7] and Livy has Roman envoys sent as disceptatores over land disputed between Carthage and Masinissa.^[7] Caesar uses it once,^[4] Tacitus has disceptator agrorum, an arbitrator over lands,^[7] and Apuleius joins it with arbiter for one who settles all quarrels among relatives.^[7] In medieval British Latin it also means one who investigates or argues over texts, and later a pleader.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[3][4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the praetor as judge of the law.^[4][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of Roman arbitrators between Carthage and Masinissa.^[7][6]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm, of a shrewd examiner of the Scriptures.^[8][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An arbitrator, umpire, judge.^[2][4][1]
2. (Medieval Latin) One who investigates or argues; a pleader.^[8]

Related words

• disceptō
• disceptātiō
• captō
• English disceptator

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ 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