exactor

Forms

exāctor m (genitive exāctōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin exigō (“to drive out; demand”) + -tor, built on the stem ⟨exāct-⟩.^[2][1][3] exigō is a compound of ex- and agō (“to drive”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *ag-e/o- (“to do, act”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Caesar uses it in the Civil War of the tax-gatherers who swarmed through a province and served their own profit as well as the levies;^[2][5] Köbler dates it from Livy.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From exigō "drive out" it means one who expels: Livy calls the Junii and Valerii the expellers of the kings.^[2][5] From "demand" it is a collector of taxes or debts, as in Caesar and Livy and in the jurists,^[2][5] one who exacts a punishment, an executioner, in Livy and Tacitus,^[2][5] and one who insists on conduct: Seneca writes of a strict exactor of virtues, and Quintilian and Suetonius of a demanding master of correct speech.^[2][5] It is also an overseer of work, as in Columella and in Livy, where a general goes round like an overseer.^[2][5] Lewis & Short note that it is not in Cicero.^[5] Stelten gives "tax collector, oppressor" for Church Latin,^[7] and in Medieval Latin it is a tax-collector, an officer who exacts dues and services, and a toll-gatherer.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar of tax-gatherers in a province.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of the expellers of the kings and of an executioner.^[2][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of an exactor of virtue.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Columella of an overseer of work.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who drives out, an expeller.^[2][5][1]
2. A collector of taxes or debts, tax collector.^[2][5][1]
3. One who exacts a penalty, an executioner; one who insists on conduct.^[2][5]
4. An overseer, supervisor of work.^[2][5][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) An officer who exacts dues and services; a toll-gatherer.^[8]

Related words

• exigō
• exāctiō
• agō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill