mediator

Forms

mediātor m (genitive mediātōris, feminine mediātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin mediō + -tor, from medius (“middle”).^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first cited from Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, of go-betweens,^[3][4][5] though Georges marks the reading as doubtful.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it a post-classical word, used especially in Ecclesiastical Latin.^[3] Christian writers applied it to Christ as mediator between God and man: Tertullian, Lactantius and the Vulgate use it,^[3] and the Vulgate has mediator unius non est “a mediator is not of one”.^[3] From it came the adjective mediatorius, relating to Christ the mediator.^[6]

In medieval Latin a mediator was a negotiator, a middleman, a guarantor or surety,^[7][8] and a tenant holding land for half the crop.^[7] British sources also use it for one placed in a central position and, in Domesday Book, for a goatherd (mediator caprarum).^[8] English borrowed it in the mid-14th century.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it, if the reading is right, of go-betweens.^[3][4][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian applies it to Christ.^[3][5]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius writes that a mediator came, God in the flesh.^[3][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Galatians and Hebrews.^[3][5]
• 1085–1086 – Domesday Book has mediator caprarum for a goatherd.^[8]
• mid-14th century – English borrows it as mediatour.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mediator, intermediary, go-between.^[2][3][1]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Christ as mediator between God and mankind.^[3][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A negotiator; a middleman, guarantor or surety.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A tenant holding land for half the crop.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) One in a central position; with caprarum, a goatherd.^[8]

Word family

• mediātōrius

Related words

• medius
• English mediator

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b c d e f 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