Etymologically
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eversor

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Forms

ēversor m (genitive ēversōris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ēvertō (“to overturn, destroy”) + -tor, from its supine stem.[2][1][3] That verb is a compound of ex- (“out of”) and vertō (“to turn”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the TLL record it first in Cicero,[4][3] who speaks of an eversor civitatis, a destroyer of the state, and of an eversor huius imperii.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It names someone who destroys or overthrows something.[2] Virgil calls Achilles Priami regnorum eversor, the destroyer of Priam's kingdom, and Quintilian has eversor Carthaginis et Numantiae.[5][6] Silius Italicus uses it of a comet foretelling the fall of kingdoms, and Pliny the Elder has eversor iuris humani.[5] In the Codex Theodosianus an eversor pecuniae is one who squanders money.[5][6] The TLL also records it from Tertullian, both of one who throws down and of one who leads astray.[3] Medieval senses include a bandit, a spendthrift and a seducer;[7] in Britain Bede uses it of an assailant who destroys the citadel of the mind, and the Leges Henrici of a breaker of the written law.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a destroyer of the state.[5][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Achilles the destroyer of Priam's kingdom.[5][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian has eversor Carthaginis et Numantiae.[5][4]
  • 438 AD – The Codex Theodosianus uses it of a squanderer of money.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A destroyer, one who overturns or subverts.[2][5][6]
  2. (Late Latin) A squanderer of money.[5][6]
  3. (Late Latin) One who leads astray, a seducer.[3][7]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A bandit; a spendthrift.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ 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