proditor

Forms

prōditor m (genitive prōditōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from prōdō (“to betray, give up”) with the agent suffix -tor.^[2][3][1] The verb is formed from prō- (“forth”) and dō (“to give”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a betrayer or traitor, as Cicero's senate that had “no leaders, and traitors instead of leaders”, and prōditor patriae, a traitor to one's country.^[2][6] The TLL treats the feminine prōditrīx with it.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “betrayer, traitor”, and in medieval Latin it is also a scoundrel.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^[5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of traitors instead of leaders.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A betrayer, traitor;^[2][6][1][7] prōditor patriae, a traitor to one's country.^[2][6][1][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) A scoundrel, knave.^[8]

Related words

• prōdō
• prōditiō
• trāditor
• perfidus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill