regulator

Forms

rēgulātor m (genitive rēgulātōris); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed with the agent suffix -tor either from Latin rēgula (“rule, ruler”) or from Late Latin rēgulō (“to regulate”), as the DMLBS puts it.^[3] The TLL prefers the noun, comparing aēnātor and gladiātor.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest possible record is an altar near the springs of the aqueduct at Aquincum, from the first half of the 3rd century AD, where editors expand an abbreviation to regulatorum; the TLL takes it for officials who kept the rules for the aqueduct pipes, but notes that other readings are possible.^[1]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin the music treatise of the Anonymous IV uses it for the scribe who ruled the staff lines on the page.^[2][3] Wyclif calls the judge and the king each a “regulator” of the people, the one contemplative, the other active.^[3] Gardiner uses it ironically for a maker of rules.^[3]

Timeline

• 3rd century AD (first half) – An inscription at Aquincum perhaps has it for aqueduct officials.^[1]
• 13th century – The Anonymous IV uses it for the scribe who rules staff lines.^[2]
• c. 1375 – Latham records it.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (uncertain) An official who kept the rules for the aqueduct pipes.^[1]
2. (Medieval Latin, music) A scribe who rules the staff lines on parchment.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A ruler, governor.^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin) A maker of rules.^[3]

Related words

• regula
• regulo

Usage notes

English regulator (1650s) is not a borrowing of this word but an agent noun in Latin form made from regulate.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
2. ^ a b c d Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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
4. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com