indagator

Forms

indāgātor m (genitive indāgātōris, feminine indāgātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin indāgō¹ (“to track down, investigate”) + -tor.^[2][1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Plautus' Trinummus Love is called a smooth corrupter of men and a tracker of hidden things, cēlātum indāgātor, with the old genitive plural cēlātum.^[2][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Columella uses it of those who search for springs of water and of the man who tracks a swarm of bees.^[2][6][5] A bronze gnomon is an indāgātor umbrae, “tracker of the shadow”, in Vitruvius, where the TLL treats the words as an interpolated gloss.^[5][3] In the figurative sense of “investigator” Serenus Sammonicus, quoted by Macrobius, speaks of investigators of nature,^[6][5] Tertullian of seekers of wisdom, and Cassiodorus calls Augustine a most subtle investigator of obscure matters.^[3] Isidore of Seville lists the indāgātōrēs among the four kinds of hunters.^[3][5]

Medieval Latin used it for hunters and tracking dogs and for scholars and students of a subject:^[7][8] Arbeo of Freising says of a young man that he became a student of sacred reading.^[7] In England it also meant a park-keeper or forester.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls Love a tracker of hidden things.^[2][10]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of finders of water and of bee swarms.^[2][10]
• 3rd century AD – Serenus Sammonicus speaks of investigators of nature.^[6][5][10]
• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus calls Augustine a subtle investigator.^[3][10]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville lists it among the kinds of hunters.^[3][10]
• 3rd quarter of the 8th century – Arbeo of Freising uses it of a student of sacred reading.^[7][10]
• 1503 – An English grant names the office of keeper of a great park.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tracker, one who hunts out or tracks down (game, a swarm of bees, springs of water).^[2][6][5]
2. An investigator, searcher;^{[2][6][11][12][7]} (Medieval Latin) a student or expert of a subject.^{[2][6][11][12][7]}
3. (Medieval Latin) A hunter's tracking dog.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A park-keeper or forester.^[9]

Related words

• indāgābilis

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
12. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier