elector

Forms

ēlēctor m (genitive ēlēctōris, feminine ēlēctrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēligō + -tor, the agent noun of the verb meaning to choose.^[2][1] The verb is formed from ex- (“out”) and legō² (“to gather”),^[1] which goes back to Proto-Indo-European *leǵ-e/o- (“to collect”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, meaning a chooser or selector.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Christian writers used it of persons who choose: Tertullian calls the heretic Marcion, ironically, the best chooser of a god, and Ambrose and Augustine use it too.^[2] The Vulgate has the feminine electrix of wisdom, the chooser of God's works.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it was one who took part in the election of a bishop, an abbot, a king or another office holder,^[6][7] and in the Holy Roman Empire one of the princes who elected the king of the Romans, the Elector.^[6][7] The MLW also records the sense “examiner, observer”.^[7] English elector (mid-15th century) comes from it.^[8]

Timeline

• 3rd quarter of the 1st century BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it for a chooser.^[4][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian calls Marcion the best chooser of a god.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate has the feminine electrix.^[2][5]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as elector.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chooser, selector.^[4][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) One entitled to vote in an election, of a bishop, abbot, king or other office holder.^[6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) One of the princes who elected the king of the Romans, an Elector.^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) An examiner, observer.^[7]

Related words

• ēlēctiō
• ēlēctrīx
• ēlēctus
• English elector

Usage notes

A separate word, Ēlector, from Ancient Greek ἠλέκτωρ (ēléktōr, “beaming”), was a Homeric name for the sun, found in Pliny the Elder.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press