infitiator

Forms

īnfitiātor m (genitive īnfitiātōris); third declension^[1][2] It is also spelled īnficiātor.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin īnfitior (“to deny”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[1][4][5] The verb is formed from īnfitiae (“denial”), which de Vaan suggests may continue a form ⟨*in-fato-⟩ “unsaid”, a negated form related to fateor (“to admit”).^[6]

Isidore of Seville explained it as one who denies, because he does not confess but strives against the truth with a lie.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Cicero,^[7][4] who in the second speech against Catiline describes some of Catiline's followers as īnfitiātōrēs lentōs, slow debtors who keep putting off payment.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Its original use was for a person who fraudulently denies a debt or refuses to return a deposit.^[4][3] Cicero also uses it in On the Orator,^[8][9] Seneca pairs it with fraudulentus “deceitful”,^[2][3] Martial addresses a man as false and a denier,^[2] and Sidonius speaks of one who denies that a debt was paid.^[2] The ancient glossaries give Greek equivalents such as ἀρνητής (arnētḗs, “denier”) and ἀποστερητής (aposterētḗs, “defrauder”).^[10]

In early medieval Latin it took the sense of a false denouncer or informer,^[11] and Köbler's sources for the word include church councils and Gregory of Tours.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero calls some of Catiline's followers slow debtors, īnfitiātōrēs lentī.^[4][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca calls such a man īnfitiātor ac fraudulentus.^[2][7]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it as a term of abuse.^[2][7]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it of one who denies a payment.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who denies a liability, especially one who denies a debt or refuses to return a deposit.^[1][3][9]
2. īnfitiātor lentus: a slow or bad debtor, who keeps delaying payment.^[3][12]
3. (Medieval Latin) A false denouncer.^[11][7]

Related words

• īnfitior
• īnfitiātiō
• fateor

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ Lewis, Charlton T. (1890), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: American Book Company