potor

Forms

pōtor m (genitive pōtōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pōtō (“to drink”) + -tor.^[2][1] The TLL derives it from the same root as pōtus (“drunk”).^[3] De Vaan traces this family to Proto-Indo-European *peh₃- (“to drink”), and explains the ⟨pō-⟩ of the derivatives as spread from ⟨pōtus⟩ and pōculum (“cup”).^[4] Cognate with the Aeolic Greek imperative πῶθι (pôthi, “drink!”) and Lithuanian puotà (“drinking bout”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Horace,^[5][3] who says he will be known to the “drinker of the Rhone”, that is, to those who live by the river (Rhodanique potor).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the general sense it means one who drinks something, as Horace's aquae potores, water-drinkers.^[6][7] More often it means a hard drinker or toper: Propertius speaks of the brawls of drinkers, Horace of “keen drinkers”, and Pliny the Elder and Martial use it in the same way.^[6][2] Lewis and Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.^[6]

In medieval British sources it still names a habitual drinker;^[8] Osbern of Gloucester explains it as a shortened ⟨potator⟩.^[8]

Timeline

• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of people who drink the Rhone and of hard drinkers.^[2][5]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius speaks of the brawls of drinkers.^[6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of hard drinkers.^[6][5]
• 1157 – John of Salisbury uses it in a letter.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A drinker (of something); Rhodani potor, one who lives by the Rhone.^[2][6]
2. A hard drinker, toper, drunkard.^[2][6][9]

Word family

• pōtōrius

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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
9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn