perpetrator

Forms

perpetrātor m (genitive perpetrātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin perpetrō (“to carry out, commit”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first passage is from Lucifer of Cagliari (355–361), who calls an opponent a lover and doer of injustice.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It always had an object in the genitive and was used of bad deeds: of a crime, a murder or a sin.^[2][1] Augustine speaks of the perpetrator peccati, and Sidonius of the doer of a murder.^[1] In British sources it can also mean one who completes a task, and once, translating Middle English purchesurs, a buyer.^[5] English perpetrator was taken from it in the 1560s.^[3]

Timeline

• 355–361 AD – Lucifer of Cagliari uses it for a doer of injustice.^[2][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine writes of the committer of a sin.^[1][4]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius uses it of a murderer.^[1][4]
• 1560s – Borrowed into English as perpetrator.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) One who commits a deed, especially a crime or sin; a perpetrator.^[2][1][6]
2. (Medieval Latin) One who brings a task to an end, a performer.^[5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A purchaser, buyer.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill