Etymologically
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operor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈɔ.pɛ.rɔr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔː.pe.ror][1]

Forms

operor (present infinitive operārī, perfect active operātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from opera “effort” or opus “work” with the verb suffix ⟨-or⟩, or a back-formation from ⟨operātus⟩.[2][1][3] An active ⟨operō⟩ is late.[4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citations are from Pliny, of being at work, and Lewis and Short note it is not in Cicero.[2][4] Köbler dates Pliny 23/24–79 AD.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to work, labour, be busy, as Livy's reīpūblicae operārī “to devote oneself to public affairs”.[2][6] In Juvenal and others it meant to perform religious rites, worship, a sense Nonius explains.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to work, labour, be occupied with, cause, produce.[7] It survives in Spanish and Portuguese obrar and French œuvrer, and English operate came about 1600 from its participle or as a back-formation from English operation.[1][8]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of devotion to public affairs.[6][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of working.[2][5]
  • c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of worship.[2][5]
  • c. 1600 – English operate is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To work, be busy, be occupied with.[2]
  2. To perform religious rites, worship.[2]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To cause, produce.[7]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com