fraudator

Forms

fraudātor m (genitive fraudātōris, feminine fraudātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fraudō (“to cheat, defraud”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[2][1][3] The verb is made from fraus (“deceit, harm”).^[1][4] For the noun de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *frawV- and, with a question mark, Proto-Indo-European *dhrou-V́-d(h)-; the proposed cognates include Sanskrit ध्रुति (dhrúti-, “deception, error”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who speaks of the shamelessness of swindlers and of men who deny their debts, fraudātōrum et īnfitiātōrum impudentiam, and calls Trebellius a defrauder of his creditors.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It means a person who defrauds, a cheat or swindler, a rare but classical word.^[2][6] Seneca has beneficiōrum fraudātor, one who cheats those who have done him favours, and Martial and Tacitus use it too.^[2][6] It is frequent in the jurists of the Digest.^[3] A feminine fraudātrīx is also recorded.^[7][1]

British medieval writers use it for a deceiver, the Devil included, and for a swindler or embezzler; a synod of 1200 lets priests excommunicate those who defraud them of their tithes.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of swindlers and of a defrauder of creditors.^[2][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of one who cheats his benefactors.^[2][5]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a swindler and dealer.^[2][5]
• 1200 – A synod lets priests excommunicate those who defraud them of tithes.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who defrauds, a swindler, cheat.^[2][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) A swindler, embezzler; one who withholds what is due.^[8]

Word family

• fraudātōrius

Related words

• fraus
• fraudātiō
• dēfraudō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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