educator

Forms

ēducātor m (genitive ēducātōris, feminine ēducātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēducō² (“to bring up, rear”) + -tor.^[2][1] De Vaan lists that verb among the derivatives of dūcō (“to lead”), from Plautus on.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[4] who uses it in the speech for Plancius of a foster-father.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines it as one who nurtures or brings up children, especially a foster-father, and Georges glosses it as a rearer in Cicero.^[2][7] Seneca the Elder uses it in a declamation on a man who brought up exposed children, and Quintilian also has it.^[8][5] In Seneca and Tacitus it means a tutor or pedagogue, as in Tacitus' educator praeceptorque; the Digest has the same sense.^[5][7] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means tutor, teacher, educator.^[9] Medieval British writers use it of a nurturer or trainer: Neckam tells of a dog that guarded its educator.^[10] English borrowed it in the 1560s in the sense “one who nourishes or rears”; by the 1670s it also meant one who trains or instructs.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a foster-father.^[5][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian has it.^[5][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of tutors.^[5][4]
• 1560s – English borrows it as educator, “one who nourishes or rears”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who nurtures or brings up children; especially a foster-father.^[2][5]
2. A tutor, pedagogue.^[5][7]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A teacher, educator.^[9]

Related words

• ēducātrīx
• English educator

Usage notes

The feminine is ēducātrīx.^[1][9] Etymonline notes that the Latin feminine meant a nurse.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ 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
11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com