Etymologically
Log in

procurator

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 23:16. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proː.kuːˈraː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [pro.kuˈraː.tor][1]

Forms

prōcūrātor m (genitive prōcūrātōris); third declension[1] Ovid scans the first syllable short, prŏcūrātor.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin prōcūrō (“to take care of, manage”) + -tor.[2][3][1] The verb is prō (“for”) with cūrō (“to care for”), from cūra (“care”), which de Vaan derives, uncertainly, from Proto-Italic *kʷoisā-.[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero.[5] Varro and Cicero use it of a steward who runs an estate.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a person put in charge of property or business, a manager or steward, and especially the agent of a landed estate: Cicero distinguishes giving instructions to the prōcūrātor from giving orders to the bailiff.[2] It is someone who acts for an absent owner, and in law an attorney acting in court for another (Gaius).[2] Under the Empire it was the title of various officials, often knights or freedmen: the financial administrator of a province, whom Tacitus' Britons say rages against their goods as the legate against their lives, the governor of a minor province, and the head of a department, as Frontinus' procurator of the water supply.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “steward, agent, manager, administrator, proxy”, and in canon law a proxy who carries on legal business for another by mandate.[6] In Medieval Latin it is an officer of the fisc, a manorial officer, a steward and an attorney.[7] English procurator (c. 1300) first meant the steward of a household, and its contraction proctor dates from the late 14th century.[8]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of an estate steward.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a land agent and of an agent for the absent.[2][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of imperial procurators.[2][5]
  • c. 1300 – English procurator.[8]
  • late 14th century – English proctor.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A manager, steward, estate agent.[2][1][6]
  2. An agent acting for an absent principal; an attorney, proxy.[2][1][6]
  3. (Imperial) A procurator: a financial administrator of a province; the governor of a minor province; the head of a department.[2][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) An officer of the fisc; a manorial officer.[7]

Word family

  • subprōcūrātor
  • prōcūrō
  • cūra
  • English procurator
  • English proctor

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com