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exhortor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word exhortor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin (hortor)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin hortor
Latin adhortor
Latin adhortatio
Latin exhortor
Latin exhortatio
Latin hortatus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈsɔr.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eɡˈzɔr.tor][1]

Forms

exhortor (present infinitive exhortārī, perfect active exhortātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] An active form exhortō also occurs.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + hortor (“to urge, encourage”).[2][1][4] Etymonline traces hortor to Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to like, want”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Virgil.[4] In the OLD's earliest quotation, from the Aeneid, riders urge on their horses.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan prose: Ovid has it of encouraging fearful people.[3] Seneca uses it of fostering virtues, as he would lash vices.[2] Besides the deponent there is an active ⟨exhortō⟩, as in Petronius, and Augustine and Apuleius have passive forms.[2][3][4] Manuscripts of the Bible and late writers spell it ⟨exort-⟩.[4] English exhort comes from it, around 1400, partly through Old French.[5]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of urging on horses.[2][4][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of encouraging the fearful.[3][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of fostering virtues.[2][6]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius has the active form.[3][6]
  • c. 1400 – English exhort is formed from it.[5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To encourage, urge on, incite; to exhort.[2][3][1]
  2. To foster virtues and the like.[2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Exhortor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/exhortor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·