Etymologically
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luctator

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫuːkˈtaː.tɔr], [ɫʊkˈtaː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [lukˈtaː.tor][1]

Forms

luctātor m (genitive luctātōris); third declension[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin luctor (“to wrestle”) + -tor, an agent noun.[2][1][4] De Vaan lists it with that verb, which he takes as a frequentative built on a participle Proto-Italic *lukto-, from Proto-Indo-European *lug-to- (“bent”); he adds that the etymology is not certain.[5] He compares Old Irish fo·loing (“supports”) and Ancient Greek λύγος (lúgos, “withy, twigs”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Plautus on.[4] In the Pseudolus wine is called a crafty wrestler that first seizes the feet (pedēs captat prīmum, luctātor dolōsust).[4][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Georges explains Plautus' joke: Greek wrestlers, oiled and slippery, tried above all to seize the opponent by the feet.[6] Ovid writes that a fresh wrestler is stronger on the yellow sand,[3][4] and Seneca of a wrestler who, thrown three times, lost the palm.[3] Pliny the Elder mentions statues and paintings of wrestlers,[3][4] and Quintilian compares the training of an orator with that of a runner or a wrestler.[4] Suetonius mentions wrestlers kept at Nero's court.[4]

Christian writers used it figuratively: Ambrose of the wrestler in the arena,[4] and Jerome calls Habakkuk a strong and unbending wrestler.[4] In medieval British sources it was used of Jacob wrestling in Genesis and of the Devil as a wrestler; an account of 1375 records a payment to a wrestler.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls wine a crafty wrestler.[4][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a fresh wrestler on the sand.[3][8]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes of a wrestler thrown three times.[3][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder mentions statues of wrestlers.[3][4][8]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome calls Habakkuk a wrestler.[4][8]
  • 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it in a comparison with wrestlers in the arena.[7][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wrestler.[2][3]
  2. A wrestler shown in a statue or painting.[3]
  3. (figurative) A crafty opponent;[3][4] (Christian) one who strives, as a wrestler in a contest.[3][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ 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
  8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de