Etymologically
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indicator

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪn.dɪˈkaː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [in.diˈkaː.tor][1]

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