moderator

Forms

moderātor m (genitive moderātōris, feminine moderātrīx); third declension^[1] The feminine is moderātrīx.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin moderor (“to regulate, control”) + -tor.^[2][1] moderor is built on the stem of modus (“measure”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure, judgement”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Naevius has it first,^[4][2] in a tragedy: trionum hic moderator rusticus, “this country driver of plough-oxen”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first someone who guides or handles something: Ovid has a driver of horses and, for an angler, the “guider of the rod”, and Claudian a wool-comber.^[5] More often it is one who controls or governs: Cicero has the ruler and director of so great a work, and asks where the managers of the public meetings were.^[5][2] It is also one who restrains, as Cicero's shame, the check on desire, and in Ovid there is no one to put a limit to an evil.^[2][5] Martial has it of a tutor of the young.^[5] Church Latin uses it of a guide, director or adviser, a confessor and a religious superior.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius, of a driver of oxen.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a ruler, a manager and a restraint.^[2][5][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, of a driver and an angler.^[5][4]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial, of a tutor.^[5][4]
• Ecclesiastical Latin – A spiritual director, a confessor, a superior.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who guides or handles something; a driver.^[2][5]
2. A governor, ruler, master, director.^[2][5][1]
3. One who restrains or checks.^[2][5]
4. One who regulates or determines; a moderator.^[2][1]
5. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A spiritual director, adviser, confessor; a superior.^[6]

Related words

• moderor
• moderātiō
• modus
• modestus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson