donator

Forms

dōnātor m (genitive dōnātōris); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dōnō (“to give, present”) + -tor.^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL give Seneca as the first author: his Phaedra addresses Hercules as dōnātor ātrae lūcis, Alcīdē, “giver of a dark light, Alcides”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it is post-Augustan and very frequent in the jurists, who use it of the donor in a gift made under the law.^[2][3] Christian writers used it of God as the giver of good things and of grace,^[3] and Augustine calls God the one who forgives, a giver of pardon.^[5][3]

In Medieval Latin it was the donor who signs a charter of gift: an English charter of 679 bears the sign of King Hlothhere as dōnātor.^[6][7] It also meant the founder or patron of a church,^[7] and Hugh of Flavigny uses it of one who forgives an injury.^[7][4] Du Cange notes that English lawyers called the giver of land the donor and the receiver the donee.^[8]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca's Phaedra calls Hercules a giver of dark light.^[3][4]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of the donor in a legal gift.^[5][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine calls God a giver of pardon and of grace.^[5][3][4]
• 679 – An English royal charter names King Hlothhere as donor.^[6]
• 1090–1112 – Hugh of Flavigny uses it of one who forgives a wrong.^[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A giver, donor.^[1][2][9]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) One who forgives, a pardoner.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) The founder or patron of a church.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b 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
7. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson