Etymologically
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faenerator

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fae̯.nɛˈraː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fe.neˈraː.tor][1]

Forms

faenerātor m (genitive faenerātōris, feminine faenerātrīx); third declension[1] Also spelled fēnerātor[2][3] and foenerātor.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin faenerō (“to lend at interest”) + -tor;[2] Wiktionary derives it from the deponent faeneror.[1] The verb comes from fēnus (“interest on money”), spelled mostly with ⟨fae-⟩ beside ⟨fē-⟩ and ⟨foe-⟩.[5] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *fēnos- and, if ⟨fē-⟩ is the original spelling, Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁-ne/os- (“yield”), the same notion as in fēnum (“hay”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[5] meaning a moneylender.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means one who lends money at interest, and often has the bad sense of a usurer: Cato uses it so in the preface to his work on agriculture.[3][4] Cicero counts the trade of moneylenders, with that of customs collectors, among the occupations that are disapproved because they incur people's hatred, and calls some acerbissimi, most harsh;[4][3] Sallust speaks of the violence and cruelty of moneylenders, and Horace of the moneylender Alphius.[3] Ambrose uses it figuratively, of the lender of a sin.[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it is also a creditor.[6] Bede calls the Creator the one lender to whom people owe the coin of their own salvation, an Old English gloss renders it gafolgilda, and a 12th-century letter speaks of a debt to Jewish and Christian moneylenders.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[5][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of the usurer in the preface to his work on agriculture.[3][4][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero ranks moneylending among the hated trades.[4][8]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust speaks of the cruelty of moneylenders.[3][8]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it figuratively.[3][8]
  • c. 1174 – A letter of John of Salisbury mentions a debt to Jewish and Christian moneylenders.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A moneylender, one who lends at interest; a usurer.[2][4][3]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A creditor.[6][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c 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
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de