librator

Forms

lībrātor m (genitive lībrātōris); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin lībrō (“to level, balance”) + -tor.^[1][3] That verb comes from lībra (“balance; pound”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *leiþra- (“pound”); the root is unidentified, and he notes that the name of a weight or coin may well be a loanword.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler first records it in Cato,^[6] in De agri cultura, in the sense of a leveller.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The leveller worked especially with a water level:^[7][2] Frontinus uses the word in his work on the aqueducts, and Pliny the Younger asks for a leveller or an architect to be sent to find out whether a lake lies higher than the sea.^[7][2] The Theodosian Code speaks of water levellers (aquae lībrātōrēs).^[2]

Tacitus twice names soldiers who hurl missiles beside the slingers;^[7][2] Gaffiot takes them as men who worked war engines.^[8] The DMLBS notes that Late Latin used the word for a surveyor, and in British medieval Latin it meant one who weighs or considers, said of God.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a leveller.^[7][6]
• c. 100 AD – Frontinus uses it in his work on the aqueducts.^[7][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of soldiers who hurl missiles.^[7][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leveller, surveyor who takes levels (especially for water channels).^[1][7][2]
2. A soldier who hurls missiles by hand.^[7][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) One who weighs or considers (said of God).^[9]

Related words

• lībrō
• lībra
• funditor

Usage notes

In both passages of Tacitus the text has lībrītor, which Georges treats as a by-form; he distinguishes the lībrātor, who hurled stones with a strap, from the funditor, who used a sling.^[2]

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 h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b 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