dispensator

Forms

dispēnsātor m (genitive dispēnsātōris, feminine dispēnsātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dispēnsō (“to weigh out, pay out, manage”) + -tor.^[2][1] dispēnsō is formed from dis- (“apart”) and pēnsō (“to weigh”), which comes from pendō (“to hang, weigh out, pay”).^[1] De Vaan traces pendō to Proto-Italic *pend-e/o- (“to hang”), with the sense shifting from hanging something up to weighing it out and so to paying; he records the verb, in the sense “to pay, administer”, from Plautus on.^[3] Varro derived the word from weighing out bronze, and Paulus' epitome of Festus says stewards were so called because they weighed money out rather than counting it.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it from Cicero,^[6] who says in the De re publica that a steward knows his letters: dispensator litteras scit.^[4] Varro uses it in his explanation of the word.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a household steward or manager, and the treasurer or cashier who kept the accounts;^[2][4] Lewis & Short note that these were usually the most trusted slaves, but under the emperors sometimes freeborn men.^[4] Suetonius, Juvenal, Martial and Pliny the Elder use it, and it is common in inscriptions.^[4] In Church Latin it is a steward or dispenser,^[7] and in medieval Latin a distributor of alms and the administrator of a manor.^[8] It passed into Italian as dispensatore.^[9]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro explains the word.^[4][5][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a steward who can read.^[4][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius.^[4][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Genesis.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A household steward, manager.^[2][4][1]
2. A treasurer, cashier, especially of the imperial treasury.^[2][4][1]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A dispenser, steward.^[7][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A distributor of alms; the administrator of a manor.^[8]

Word family

• dispensatorius

Related words

• dispēnsō
• pēnsō
• pendō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier