quadruplator

Forms

quadruplātor m (genitive quadruplātōris); third declension^[1] Plautus has the longer form ⟨quadrupulātor⟩,^[2][3] Festus and Seneca ⟨quadriplātor⟩.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is from Latin quadruplō (“to make fourfold”) + -tor.^[5][3] The verb is formed from quadruplus (“fourfold”),^[5][1] whose first part is quadru-, the form of quattuor (“four”) used in compounds;^[6] it goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kʷtur-, the compound form of the numeral.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plautus' Persa, of the moment when an informer lays hands on someone;^[5][7] in the same play a character uses the verb quadruplari, to act as an informer, and says he does not want to.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It named a man who brought criminal charges for profit;^[5][4][3] Festus says it was in cases with a fourfold penalty, while Lewis and Short and Georges say he received a fourth part of the property.^[5][4][3] The Rhetorica ad Herennium calls such a man a wicked and pestilent citizen, and Cicero lists informers with accusers in the Verrines.^[5] Livy uses it as a term of abuse, of the Roman people taking on the part of an informer who intercepts another's lawsuit.^[5][4]

Seneca turns it into a multiplier: people who make four times as much of the favours they have done.^[5][3] Apuleius uses it of someone who multiplies by four,^[5][2] and Sidonius Apollinaris of tax farmers who kept a quarter of the tolls.^[3][2][8] Osbern of Gloucester, reading Sidonius, explained it as an old or crippled man who walks with two feet and two sticks.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of an informer.^[5][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in the Verrines.^[5][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it as a term of abuse.^[5][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of people who magnify their favours.^[5][7]
• c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius Apollinaris uses it of tax farmers.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A professional informer or accuser, who was rewarded from the penalty.^[5][4][3]
2. (term of abuse) A trickster, a pettifogger.^[5][4]
3. One who multiplies by four; a magnifier, exaggerator.^[5][3]
4. (Late Latin) A tax farmer who kept a quarter of the tolls.^[3][2][8]
5. (Medieval Latin) One who walks with two feet and two sticks.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b 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