largitor

Forms

largītor m (genitive largītōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin largior (“to give generously”) + -tor.^[2][3][1] The verb is formed from largus (“abundant, generous”), whose origin is unclear.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Cicero on.^[3][5] In the fourth Catilinarian Cicero calls Lentulus largitorem et prodigum, a briber and a spendthrift.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In a good sense it is a generous giver or benefactor: Sallust has someone generous with many things and above all with money, and Livy a general who was not at all generous, which made the booty he gave the soldiers the more welcome.^[2][6] Poets use it of gods and rivers as givers: Statius has the horned giver of everlasting water, Silius Bacchus as giver of the sacred liquor, and Persius calls the belly the master of art and giver of wit.^[2] Pliny the Elder calls the Po a bestower of fertility.^[2]

In a bad sense it is one who gives money corruptly, a briber,^[2] as in Cicero and in Tacitus' raptor, largitor, plunderer and briber.^[2] Lewis & Short note that Cicero does not use the neutral sense.^[6] In medieval Latin it appears in charters and church councils.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of Lentulus as a briber.^[2][5]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust, of a man generous with money.^[2][6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of a general who did not give freely.^[2][6][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of a plunderer and briber.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A liberal giver, bestower, benefactor.^[2][6][1]
2. One who gives money corruptly, a briber.^[2][3]

Related words

• largior
• largus
• largītiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press