lapidator

Forms

lapidātor m (genitive lapidātōris); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin lapidō (“to throw stones at”) + -tor.^[1][3] The verb comes from lapis (“stone”), which de Vaan thinks is probably a Mediterranean loanword.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero (81–43 BC)^[5] uses it in the speech De domo sua, calling Sergius percussor, lapidator, fori depopulator, “assassin, stone-thrower, ravager of the forum”; some manuscripts read another word there.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Christian Latin the word was used of those who carry out the Hebrew punishment of stoning.^[3] Augustine calls Saul the stoner of Stephen and tells how Stephen prayed for those who stoned him, and a later sermon calls Saul a stoner of Christians.^[3] Gregory the Great also uses it.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a stone-thrower.^[3][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine calls Saul the stoner of Stephen.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who throws stones.^[1][2]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) One who executes someone by stoning, as in Hebrew law.^[3]

Related words

• lapidātiō
• lapis

Usage notes

A feminine lapidātrīx appears in the Latin translation of Origen on Matthew, where Jerusalem is the killer and stoner of the prophets.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de