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messor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word messor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic (*met-e-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin meto
Latin messor
Latin demeto

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɛs.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɛs.sor][1]

Forms

messor m (genitive messōris, feminine mestrīx); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin metō (“to reap”) + -tor.[2][1] De Vaan traces the verb to Proto-Italic *met-e- (“to reap”), comparing Welsh medi (“to mow, harvest”); the further root etymology is disputed.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,[3][4] who uses it figuratively in the Captivi: sator sartorque scelerum et messor maxume, sower, hoer and chief reaper of crimes.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a reaper or harvester,[2][5] named by Cicero and Ovid;[5] Horace speaks of the tough guts of reapers, and Juvenal asks that the reapers who feed the city be spared.[5] Columella calls a mower feniseca messor.[5] Servius reports, from Fabius Pictor, a god Messor among the gods of farming.[5][6] The Vulgate has it in the Gospel of Matthew.[5] Church Latin keeps it as harvester or reaper.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, figuratively of a “reaper” of crimes.[5][6][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero names the reaper.[5][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace, of the tough guts of reapers.[5][4]
  • c. 400 AD – Servius, on the harvest god Messor.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A reaper, harvester.[2][5][1]
  2. A mower (fēniseca messor).[5][1]
  3. (figurative) One who reaps (a crop of crimes).[5][6]

Word family

  • messōrius

Usage notes

Georges lists a second messor, a spelling of mēnsor “surveyor”, found in inscriptions.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Messor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/messor. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·