operator

Forms

operātor m (genitive operātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin operor (“to work”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[2][3][4] De Vaan explains operor as a late back-formation from operātus (“busy, absorbed”), an adjective made from opera (“effort, activity”); that is a derivative of opus “work”, which goes back to Proto-Italic *opes- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃ep-os (“work”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first to use it, in the Apology, for a worker or maker.^[6][3][7] The TLL calls it a word of the Christian writers.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Firmicus Maternus and Lactantius use it for a worker.^[6][3][8] In Christian writers it is one who does good or practises the law, in Ambrose, and the maker of the world, in Jerome's operator mundi.^[8] It also appears in the Vulgate,^[6] and in the poetry of Paulinus of Nola, Sedulius, Venantius Fortunatus and Arator.^[2]

In Medieval Latin it meant a workman^[9][10] and, in British sources, a labourer or a customary tenant who owed work, a supporter or intercessor, the doer of a deed, God as creator, and the player of an instrument as distinct from the singer.^[11]

English operator (1590s) comes from the verb operate or from this Late Latin word.^[12]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for a worker or maker.^[6][7]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it for a worker.^[6][8][7]
• 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus has it in his astrological work.^[6][7]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome calls God the operator mundi.^[8][7]
• 390–406 AD – It appears in the Vulgate.^[6][7]
• 1590s – English operator appears, from operate or the Late Latin word.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A worker, labourer.^[6][3][11]
2. One who does or performs something, a doer.^[3][11]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A maker, creator, of God.^[13][8][11]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) One who does good or keeps the law.^[8]
5. (Medieval Latin) A customary tenant owing labour service.^[11]
6. (Medieval Latin) A supporter, intercessor.^[11]
7. (Medieval Latin) The player of an instrument, as against a singer.^[11]

Word family

• operatorius

Related words

• English operator

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
11. ^ a b c d e f g 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
12. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
13. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson