Etymologically
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fictor

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Forms

fictor m (genitive fictōris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fingō (“to shape, fashion”) + -tor, an agent noun.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *finge/o- (“to knead, form”) and Proto-Indo-European *dʰi-n-ǵʰ-.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[3][4] who calls someone omnium lēgum atque iūrum fictor, “the maker of all laws and rights”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is a modeller of images, a sculptor:[2][5] Lucilius mocks a sculptors' booth with pergula fictōrum, vērī nihil, omnia ficta, “a sculptors' shop: nothing real, all made up”,[2] and Cicero says that we know the gods with the faces that painters and sculptors chose for them.[5] In religious language it was an attendant of the priests who kneaded the sacrificial cakes;[2] Ennius names the fictōrēs among the institutions of Numa.[2]

More generally it is anyone who devises or makes something,[2] and Christian Latin uses it for the maker or creator.[6][1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls someone the maker of laws.[2][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius mentions the priests' cake-makers.[2][4]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius mentions a sculptors' booth.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero pairs painters and sculptors.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who shapes images, a modeller, sculptor.[2][5]
  2. (religion) An attendant of the priests who kneaded the sacrificial cakes.[2]
  3. A person who devises or makes something, a contriver.[2]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A maker, creator.[6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson