exstinctor

Forms

exstīnctor m (genitive exstīnctōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin exstinguō (“to put out, extinguish”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[2][3][4] De Vaan lists exstinguō among the compounds of stinguō, which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *stengʷ-e/o- (“to push, thrust”); putting out a fire would then be “pushing it out”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is its first author,^[3][6] who says in the speech against Piso that his opponent sat near his house “not as the extinguisher but as the author of the fire” (non exstinctor sed auctor incendiī).^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, one who puts out a fire, is rare; much more often it names one who wipes out or crushes something: Cicero calls a man the destroyer of his country and speaks of the suppressors of the Catilinarian conspiracy.^[2][3][8] Sallust uses it of one who wipes out a family line, and Justin calls Cassander the destroyer of the royal house.^[3][7] Lactantius uses it of a killer, defining a homicide as the destroyer of a man, and inscriptions of AD 353 and 389 honour destroyers of tyranny.^[3] Arnobius calls Christ the destroyer of death itself.^[3] Medieval writers used it both of one who puts out lights or fires and of a destroyer or conqueror.^[9][10] French extincteur and Italian estintore were borrowed from it.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the one who puts out a fire and of a destroyer of his country.^[3][6]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of one who wipes out a family.^[3][6]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it of a killer.^[3][6]
• 353 and 389 – Inscriptions praise destroyers of tyranny.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who extinguishes a fire.^[2][7]
2. A destroyer, one who wipes out or suppresses something (a country, a conspiracy, a family).^[2][7][8]
3. (Late Latin) A killer.^[3]

Usage notes

It is also spelled extinctor, the usual spelling in the manuscripts.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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