incisor

Forms

incīsor m (genitive incīsōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin incīdō² (“to cut into”) + -tor.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Alcimus Avitus uses it in a letter for one who cuts up or carves.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it named many kinds of cutter: a tailor, a retail clothier, a die-cutter,^[5] a carver or sculptor, a woodcutter, a lancet,^[6] a surgeon, a stone cutter and a cutpurse;^[7] Hungarian documents use it for salt miners and woodcutters.^[8] Physicians called the front teeth incisores, as Constantine the African and Albertus Magnus report.^[6] Wiktionary gives the anatomical sense as New Latin,^[1] and English took incisor in the 1670s from Medieval Latin.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 451–518 AD – Alcimus Avitus uses it for one who cuts up.^[2][4]
• 1020–1087 – Constantine the African says physicians call the front teeth incisores.^[6][4]
• 1193 – A Mainz charter names an Arnoldus with it as a byname.^[6]
• 1262 – A Hungarian document mentions salt cutters.^[8]
• 1670s – English borrows it as incisor.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who cuts up, a carver.^[2][3]
2. (Medieval Latin) A tailor; a retail clothier.^[5][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A die-cutter; a carver or sculptor.^[5][6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) A woodcutter; a salt miner.^[6][7][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A surgeon or phlebotomist; a lancet.^[7][6]
6. (Medieval Latin) A cutpurse.^[7]
7. (anatomy) An incisor tooth.^[6][1]

Related words

• incīsiō
• incīsīvus
• English incisor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e 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 Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com