petitor

Forms

petītor m (genitive petītōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin petō (“to seek, ask for”) + -tor.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Scipio Aemilianus,^[3] who has a boy wearing the bulla, the son of a candidate.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it from Scipio Aemilianus, in titles of Pomponius' farces and in Cicero, and only once each in the poetry of Catullus, Horace and Lucan.^[3] It is a seeker: Seneca says that the best seems to be what has many seekers and praisers, and Lucan calls a man a seeker of fame.^[2][5] It is also one who makes a request, as an applicant for water in Frontinus.^[2] In a civil case it is the plaintiff: Cicero asks whether he may take on the role of plaintiff and lay aside that of accuser.^[2] Seneca uses it of a suitor, saying that some goddesses are widows and no wonder they lacked a suitor.^[2] It is also a candidate canvassing for office, a use Lewis & Short note is very rare beside candidātus and absent from Cicero.^[2][5] Under the later Empire petītor mīlitiae was an under-officer, as in an inscription that names Commodus.^[2] In medieval Latin it is an attorney.^[6]

Timeline

• 185/184–129 BC – Scipio Aemilianus of a candidate.^[2][3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a plaintiff.^[2]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan of a seeker of fame.^[5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of seekers and of a suitor.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seeker, one who strives after something.^[2][5][1]
2. An applicant.^[2][1]
3. (law) A plaintiff, claimant in a civil case.^[2][1][7]
4. A suitor.^[2][1]
5. A candidate for office.^[2][5][1]
6. (Late Latin, military) petītor mīlitiae, an under-officer.^[2]
7. (Medieval Latin) An attorney.^[6]

Word family

• petītōrius

Related words

• petō
• petītiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson