rhetor

Forms

rhētor m (genitive rhētoris); third declension^[1] A Greek genitive rhētoros is also found.^[2] Medieval Latin also spells it rethor.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ῥήτωρ (rhḗtōr, “speaker, orator; teacher of rhetoric”).^[2][4][1][3] Köbler connects the Greek word with the root Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to say, speak”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who in De oratore has a speaker claim that those called rhetoricians, who hand down rules of speaking, understand nothing at all.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It means a teacher of public speaking, a rhetorician;^[2][4] Quintilian speaks of the schools of the rhetoricians.^[2][4] It is also used of anyone trained in the techniques of speaking, probably always with some disparagement: Cicero says that one would not have called Lucius Torquatus a rhetorician so much as, in the Greek phrase, a statesman.^[2] English borrowed rhetor through Old French in the late 14th century.^[3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of teachers of rhetoric and of a man trained in speaking.^[4][2][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the schools of rhetoricians.^[4][5]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as rhetor.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A teacher of public speaking, a rhetorician.^[2][4][1]
2. One trained in the techniques of speaking, usually disparaging; an orator.^[2][1]

Word family

• rhētoricus
• rhētorissō

Related words

• rhētorica
• rhētoricē
• English rhetor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de