indicator

Forms

indicātor m (genitive indicātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin indicō¹ (“to point out”) + -tor.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Solinus calls Anaxagoras the naturae indicator, the one who revealed nature;^[3][2] but the TLL holds that the reading indagator “investigator”, found in other manuscripts, is probably the right one.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its early record is uncertain: in Gildas too the TLL suspects indagatores, and in the law of the Visigoths indicator is a variant reading for delator or index, an informer.^[2] A glossary equates it with stipulator.^[2]

Medieval Latin used it for one who points out or reveals something,^[4] as in Albertus Magnus,^[4] and in law for an informer: the Edict of Rothari speaks of finding stolen goods through a betrayer, that is, a certain indicator,^[4] and Du Cange glosses it as an accuser in Lombard law.^[5] English borrowed it in the 1660s for that which points something out.^[6] Conte gives this Late Latin word as the source of Italian indicatore.^[7]

Timeline

• first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus has it in a doubtful reading.^[2][3][8]
• c. 510–570 – Gildas has it, again in a doubtful reading.^[2][8]
• 7th century – The law of the Visigoths has it as a variant reading for an informer.^[2][8]
• 13th century – Albertus Magnus uses it for one who points out.^[4][8]
• 1660s – English borrows it as indicator.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who points out or reveals something.^[3][4]
2. (Medieval Latin, law) An informer, an accuser.^[4][5][2]

Usage notes

A feminine indicātrīx, one who points out, occurs in Mutianus' translation of John Chrysostom: an image is not what shows the likeness.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de