grator

Forms

grātor (present infinitive grātārī, perfect active grātātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin grātus (“pleasing, thankful”) + -or, a verb made from the adjective.^[2][3][1] The TLL suggests that dactylic poets may have formed it, for the metre, in place of the older grātulor (“to congratulate”);^[3][4] Leumann took it as a back-formation from that verb, which de Vaan sees no compelling reason to assume.^[3][4] He traces grātus to Proto-Italic *gʷrāto- (“grateful”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷrH-to- (“praised in song”), cognate with Oscan brateís (“grace, mercy”) and Sanskrit गृणाति (gr̥ṇā́ti, “to praise”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Accius and Pacuvius;^[3] an Accius line quoted by Servius says it is not fitting to congratulate someone on the matter.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that it is above all a word of dactylic poets, as Virgil, Ovid and Silius.^[3] Lewis & Short note that it is not in Cicero, who uses grātulor and congrātulor.^[5] Virgil has grātāre sorōrī, “wish your sister joy”, and congratulating people on their safe return;^[5] Livy and Tacitus use it of people rejoicing together.^[5] From it comes the late adverb grātanter, “with joy”.^[5]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius, of congratulating.^[5][3][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of wishing someone joy.^[5][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of rejoicing together.^[5][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of praising and rejoicing.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wish someone joy, congratulate.^[2][5][1]
2. To rejoice with someone; to rejoice.^[2][5][1]

Word family

• gratatorius
• grātanter

Related words

• grātia
• grātificor
• grātus
• grātulor
• congrātulor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de