oppugnator

Forms

oppugnātor m (genitive oppugnātōris); third declension^[1] It is also spelled obpugnātor.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin oppugnō (“to attack, assault”) + -tor.^[2][3][4] De Vaan lists oppugnō among the derivatives of pungō (“to prick”), from Plautus on; he assumes a separate Proto-Italic *pug- “fist” behind pugnus and pugna.^[5] The TLL compares prōpugnātor (“defender”), which Cicero sets beside it.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[6] who in the speech for Balbus wishes that the defenders of the empire could come into the city and drive out the oppugnatores rei publicae, “the assailants of the state”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of political attackers, calling Antony hostem et oppugnatorem patriae, and in the Pro Plancio speaks of one who was not the assailant but even the defender of his safety.^[3][4][7] The OLD defines it as one who assaults a town or the like, and the TLL notes that in the strictly military sense it is used with a genitive only by Livy, Augustine and Ennodius, as Livy of the attackers of Caulonia.^[2][4][7] Nepos has oppidani et oppugnatores, Tacitus opposes the besiegers to the besieged, and Ammianus uses it often.^[4][3] Augustine applies it to opponents of the law and the prophets, of divine grace and of the faith, and calls the devil vester oppugnator.^[4] A medieval British chronicler uses it of one who, from a trusted guardian of honour, has become an attacker.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of attackers of the state.^[4][6]
• c. 100–24 BC – Nepos uses it of besiegers.^[4][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of the attackers of a town.^[4][7][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of opponents of grace and the faith.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who assaults a town or the like, a besieger, attacker.^[2][3][4]
2. An assailant or opponent of a person, the state, a cause or a doctrine.^[3][4][7]

Word family

• oppugnātōrius

Related words

• prōpugnātor

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ 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