repetitor

Forms

repetītor m (genitive repetītōris); third declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin repetō (“to seek again, claim back”) + -tor.^[1][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Ovid, who calls Menelaus the repetītor of the bride taken from him.^[3][1][5]

Semantic evolution

The Council of Vaison of 442 uses it of someone who claims back children who were exposed and taken in by others, beside a false accuser.^[3] Isidore of Seville, following Servius, explains retractātor by repetītor, one who goes over again what he had left.^[3][4]

In British medieval sources it is one who repeats words or writings, as in Daniel of Beccles' advice not to be a repeater of words, a petitioner who keeps asking, and, at Wells in 1479, apparently a choir trainer or succentor.^[6]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Menelaus reclaiming his wife.^[3][1][5]
• 442 AD – The Council of Vaison uses it of one who claims back exposed children.^[3]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore uses it of one who repeats.^[3][5]
• 1479 – Statutes of Wells Cathedral use it of a choir officer.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who claims back, a reclaimer.^[1][2][7]
2. (Late Latin) One who repeats or goes over something again.^[4][3][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A petitioner.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin, Church) Perhaps a succentor, trainer of a choir.^[6]

Related words

• repetītiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier