natator

Forms

natātor m (genitive natātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin natō (“to swim”) + -tor.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains that verb as built on an old participle of nō (“to swim”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *(s)nāje/o- (“to swim”) and Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₂- (“to swim, float”).^[4]

Varro already named it among nouns taken from a pursuit, beside ⟨cursor⟩ “runner” and ⟨pugil⟩ “boxer”.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL find it first in Varro,^[4][3] in his list of words for people named after what they do.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Ovid writes pugnat in adversās īre natātor aquās, “the swimmer struggles to go against the current”,^[6] and in his Heroides Leander tells Hero that he seems a swimmer coming to her and a shipwrecked man going back.^[3][5] Statius uses it too,^[6] and Sidonius Apollinaris pictures an African swimmer, one of Hannibal's soldiers.^[3] A feminine natātrīx appears in a Late Latin translation of John Chrysostom, and the glossaries explain it by Greek κολυμβητής (kolumbētḗs).^[3]

British medieval writers kept it: Peter of Blois says that a swimmer undresses to cross a river.^[7] The TLL lists Romance descendants such as Romanian înotător and Italian nuotatore, and thinks the Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese nadador may be re-formations.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro names it among words for people named after what they do.^[3][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a swimmer against the current.^[6][8]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it.^[6][8]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris writes of an African swimmer.^[3][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swimmer.^[2][6][9]

Word family

• natātōrius

Related words

• natō
• nō

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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn