pabulator

Forms

pābulātor m (genitive pābulātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pābulor (“to graze, forage”) + -tor.^[2][1][3] The verb comes from pābulum (“fodder”), which de Vaan derives from pāscō (“to feed, pasture”);^[4] that family goes back to Proto-Italic *pāþlo- and Proto-Indo-European *peh₂- (“to protect, herd”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Caesar,^[5][3] as a military term for soldiers sent out to collect fodder: in the Gallic War the enemy “flew at the foragers from all sides” (ex omnibus partibus ad pabulatores advolaverunt hostes).^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is a word of military writers: Caesar, Hirtius and Livy use it of foragers sent out from an army.^[7][3] A glossary explains it instead as a herdsman who supplies fodder to the oxen.^[7][6]

Medieval British writers used it for anyone who seeks or provides fodder or food, especially for horses;^[8] William of Poitiers has it of foragers.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of foragers in the Gallic War and the Civil War.^[3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Hirtius uses it of foragers.^[7][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of foragers.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) A forager, a soldier sent to collect fodder.^[2][7]
2. (glossaries) A herdsman who supplies fodder.^[7][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) One who seeks or provides fodder or food, especially for horses.^[8]

Word family

• pābulātōrius

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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