obiurgator

Forms

obiūrgātor m (genitive obiūrgātōris); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin obiūrgō (“to rebuke”) + -tor.^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Cicero,^[4][3] who says in the Verrines that a man open to blame himself is not to be borne as an accuser, nor even as a critic.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero also speaks of “this critic of ours” and of friendly critics whom he wants to placate, as against envious detractors.^[3][2] The elder Seneca has obiūrgātor nostrī, with an objective genitive,^[6] and the younger Seneca calls Epicurus a critic of Stilbo.^[3][5] Apuleius uses it like an adjective in patruus obiūrgātor, a scolding uncle.^[5][3]

Augustine says that one who rebukes loves even when he strikes.^[3] Macrobius calls Sallust a stern critic and censor of others' luxury.^[3][5] In medieval Britain it also meant a quarrelsome person: an Oxford record of 1447 calls a man a common scold who often broke the peace.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a critic or reprover.^[3][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca calls Epicurus a critic of Stilbo.^[3][4]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a scolding uncle.^[5][4]
• 1st half of 5th century AD – Macrobius calls Sallust a critic of luxury.^[3][4]
• 1447 – An Oxford university record uses it of a common scold.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who rebukes or reproves, a critic, detractor.^[1][2][8]
2. (attributive) Scolding: patruus obiūrgātor, a scolding uncle.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A quarrelsome person, a scold.^[7]

Word family

• obiurgātōrius

Related words

• obiūrgō
• obiūrgātiō

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c 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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson