flator

Forms

flātor m (genitive flātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin flō (“to blow”) + -tor, literally “blower”.^[2][1] De Vaan traces flō with a question mark to Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to blow”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

An inscription with the mining law of Vipasca speaks of the slaves and freedmen of the silver and copper flatores, the men who cast the metal.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The epitome of Festus glosses it as tibicen, a player on a wind instrument, and glossaries give the same explanation.^[5][6][4] In the Digest the moneyers are called aeris argenti auri flatores, casters of bronze, silver and gold.^[5][6]

In British medieval records it is the man who works the bellows in smelting,^[7] and in New Latin any blower, or anything that blows.^[1] Etymonline traces English flavor, through Old French, probably to a Vulgar Latin flator “odour”, literally “that which blows”.^[8]

Timeline

• 533 AD – The Digest calls the moneyers casters of bronze, silver and gold.^[5][9]
• 8th century – Paul's epitome of Festus explains it as a piper.^[5][9]
• 1333 – An English account records wages for flatores who worked the bellows.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A player on a wind instrument, piper.^[2][5][10]
2. A caster or melter of metals; a coiner.^[2][5][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A worker of the bellows in smelting.^[7][1]
4. (New Latin) A blower, anything that blows.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.