mirator

Forms

mīrātor m (genitive mīrātōris, feminine mīrātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mīror (“to wonder at, admire”) + -tor.^[2][1] That verb is derived from mīrus (“wonderful, remarkable”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *smeiro- and Proto-Indo-European *sméi-ro- (“laughter”); he follows Vine in taking the neuter ⟨mīrum⟩ as the oldest form, which answers the doubts others have raised about deriving “remarkable” from a word for laughing.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler first records it in Horace,^[4] who uses it in the Satires of a man's taste in women.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it a word of poetry and of post-Augustan prose.^[5] Propertius says he is not an admirer of beauty alone, Ovid has an admirer of things, Seneca an admirer of himself and Pliny the Elder of empty things;^[5][7] Curtius speaks of an admirer of courage even in an enemy.^[6][7]

It survives in Spanish mirador and Portuguese miradouro.^[8] British medieval writers used it of one who stares in surprise or amazement.^[9]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires.^[5][4]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius calls himself an admirer of more than beauty.^[5][7][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has an admirer of things.^[5][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca speaks of an admirer of himself.^[5][4]
• 1st century AD – Curtius writes of an admirer of courage in an enemy.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An admirer.^[2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) One who stares in surprise or amazement.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ 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