reparator

Forms

reparātor m (genitive reparātōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin reparō (“to restore, renew”) + -tor, an agent noun.^[2][1] The verb is re- (“again, back”) with parō (“to furnish, provide”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *parāje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *prh₃-o- (“providing”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds the word perhaps already in Fabius Pictor and certainly in Statius,^[4] who calls Janus the great “restorer” of the endless age in the Silvae.^[4][5][6]

Semantic evolution

In inscriptions, from the middle of the 3rd century on, it appears as a title, as in reparator orbis “restorer of the world”.^[4][5] Christian writers applied it to God and Christ, who restore mankind to its first state: Gaudentius of Brescia calls Christ the restorer of the image of God that the serpent's bite had wounded.^[4] Gaffiot notes its use for the Saviour in Prosper.^[6]

A gloss in Servius on the Georgics names a rustic god Reparator in the list of Fabius Pictor, but the TLL considers the reading there probably corrupt.^[4][5] In medieval British sources it is the restorer or mender of objects and buildings, and one who restores a person to health.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 45–96 AD – Statius calls Janus the restorer of the endless age.^[4][8]
• mid 3rd century AD – Inscriptions begin to use it as a title.^[4]
• 4th century AD – Gaudentius applies it to Christ.^[4][8]
• mid 4th century AD – Avienus uses it in his version of Aratus.^[5][8]
• 435/442 AD – Prosper uses it of the Saviour.^[6][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who restores or renews; a restorer.^[2][9][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The restorer of mankind: God or Christ.^[4][6][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) A mender of objects; a rebuilder of buildings.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson