litigator

Forms

lītigātor m (genitive lītigātōris); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin lītigō (“to go to law, dispute”) + -tor.^[1][3][4] De Vaan lists that verb among the derivatives of līs (“lawsuit, dispute”),^[5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *slī-ti- (“accusation, dispute”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL says that the word was known to Cato, and finds it in texts from Cicero and the jurist Alfenus on.^[3] Cicero asks in a letter whether no one but litigants (praeter lītigātōrēs nēmō) is carrying his letters to his correspondent.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It was the legal term for either party to a case before a judge or arbitrator,^[3] and Quintilian uses it of the client of an advocate, noting that at Athens it was usual to write speeches for litigants to deliver themselves.^[3][6] Pliny the Elder and Lactantius use it more generally of a quarrelsome disputant.^[2][4] Suetonius contrasts litigants in Rome with those of the provinces.^[4] The word passed into Greek, where it is found in Justinian's Novels and John Lydus.^[3]

It kept its legal sense in Ecclesiastical and medieval Latin,^[7][8] as in William of Malmesbury and John of Salisbury.^[8] English formed litigator afresh in 1880, from the verb litigāre.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of litigants.^[3][10]
• 1st century BC – Alfenus uses it in his legal writings.^[3][10]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of an advocate's client.^[3][10]
• 490–c. 560 AD – John Lydus uses it in Greek.^[3][10]
• 1167 – John of Salisbury uses it in a letter.^[8]
• 1880 – English forms litigator.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A party to a lawsuit, a litigant.^[1][2][7]
2. The client of an advocate.^[6]
3. A quarrelsome disputant.^[2][4]

Related words

• lītigō
• līs
• lītigium
• English litigator

Usage notes

Manuscripts confuse it with ligātor, and it is a false reading for licitātor in Cicero.^[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 d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de