rhetor
Pronunciation
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
- A teacher of public speaking, a rhetorician.[2][4][1]
- One trained in the techniques of speaking, usually disparaging; an orator.[2][1]
Word family
- rhētoricus
- rhētorissō
Related words
- rhētorica
- rhētoricē
- English rhetor
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de