obtrectator
Forms
obtrectātor m (genitive obtrectātōris); third declension[1] Also spelled optrectātor,[2][3] and in manuscripts obtraectātor.[3]
Etymology
It is from Latin obtrectō (“to disparage”) + -tor.[2][3][4] Festus explained it as one who acts against a person who handles a matter rightly, connecting it with tractō (“to handle”).[5][3]
Earliest recorded meaning
Cicero has it first,[4] as in the Pro Flacco, of a detractor of a kindness.[5][6]
Semantic evolution
It is a person who attacks another in words out of envy or malice, a malicious critic.[2] Cicero speaks of the detractors and enviers of Scipio, of the detractors of his own merits, and of many common detractors, envious of everyone, who invented much.[5][6] Quintilian sets enemies and detractors side by side,[5] and Justin uses it with a dative, of the king's friends who opposed a proposal.[5][6] A list of synonyms ascribed to Cicero puts it beside maledicus and dētrectātor.[3]
Timeline
- 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the detractors of Scipio and of his own merits.[5][4]
- c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, beside enemies.[5][4]
- 3rd century AD? – Justin, with a dative.[5][4]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
- obtrectō
- obtrectātiō
- dētrectātor
- tractō
References
- ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn