Etymologically
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minitor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɪ.nɪ.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmiː.ni.tor][1]

Forms

minitor (present infinitive minitārī or minitārier, perfect active minitātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1] Livius Andronicus and Plautus also have an active minitō, and Plautus the infinitive minitārier.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of minor (“to threaten”), with the suffix -itō.[2][4][1] De Vaan derives ⟨minor⟩ from minae (“threats”), from Proto-Italic *menā- (“part that sticks out”), with a development from “projection” to “threat”; he connects it with the root Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stick out”) of ēmineō (“to stand out”) and mōns (“mountain”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is the active form in Livius Andronicus;[2][6] Plautus has “a teacher threatened by any pupil?” in the Bacchides.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to use threats against someone, and of things to be a danger, as Cicero's Carthage and Numantia, “the two most powerful cities that most threatened this empire”.[2][3] Transitively it is to threaten someone with an ill, as Plautus' “you threaten me with blows”, with an accusative and infinitive, and with an infinitive to threaten to do something, as Plautus' “you threatened to run me down with a four-horse chariot”.[2]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus has the active form.[2][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of threats and of threatening blows.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of threatening cities.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (with dative) To threaten, make threats against; to be a danger to.[2][3][1]
  2. To threaten (an ill); to threaten (to do).[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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