laborator

Forms

labōrātor m (genitive labōrātōris, feminine labōrātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin labōrō (“to toil, work”) + -tor (“agent suffix”).^[1][2][3] The verb comes from labor “toil”, whose further origin is unclear; de Vaan is not convinced by the usual connection with lābō “to totter”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest passage the TLL gives is in the undated Bern scholia on Virgil's Eclogues, which pair a labourer with a shepherd.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant someone who works, a labourer, mostly on the land;^[2] the Lives of the Fathers use it of monks at work,^[2] Cassiodorus' version of Josephus of woodcutters on Lebanon,^[2] and Gregory the Great of the labourers in the vineyard of the Gospel parable, where the Vulgate has operarii.^[2] Justinian's Novels use it for a kind of grave-digger.^[2]

In medieval Latin it meant above all a ploughman, a tiller with a team of his own,^[5][1] and also a workman, a vine-dresser or a husbandman;^[6][7] in Hungary it was also used for a miner.^[8] It continues in Italian lavoratore.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it of woodcutters.^[2][3]
• 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it of the labourers in the vineyard.^[2][3]
• 1374 – A Scottish roll lists carpenters, masons and other labourers for the repair of a castle.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A worker, labourer, especially on the land.^[2][9][6]
2. (Late Latin) A kind of grave-digger.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A ploughman, tiller of the soil.^[5][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A miner.^[8]

Related words

• laboratorius
• laboratorium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ 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
7. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.