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Etymology and origin of the Latin word separator

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 160–220 Tertullian More words from the 2nd century
Ultimate origin
Latin sēparō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin parō
Italian parare
French parade
English parade
Spanish parar
English pare
Latin sēparō
French séparer
Romanian separa
Spanish separar
Latin sēparātor
English separator
From the same root
Latin apparō ← parō
Latin disparō ← parō
Latin imperō ← parō
Latin parābilis ← parō
Latin parātus ← parō
Latin praeparō ← parō
Latin reparō ← parō
Spanish parada ← parō
Latin sēpar ← sēparō
Latin sēparātiō ← sēparō

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [seː.paˈraː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [se.paˈraː.tor][1]

Forms

sēparātor m (genitive sēparātōris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sēparō (“to separate”) + -tor, an agent noun.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first to use it,[4][3][2] for one who separates, with a genitive of what is separated.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a Late Latin word of Christian writers:[4][3] besides Tertullian it occurs in the Vulgate,[4] in Jerome's commentary on Zechariah[5] and in Augustine, who lists among the charges against someone that of separating married couples (coniugiorum separatorem).[6] Gaffiot also lists a feminine sēparātrīx.[7] English took the word around 1600 for a separatist, and it later named a machine that separates one thing from another.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it in De praescriptione haereticorum.[4][2]
  • 390–406 AD – It appears in the Vulgate, in Zechariah.[4][2]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in his writings against Petilian.[6][2]
  • c. 1600 – English borrows separator for one who separates.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. One who separates or divides, a separator.[4][3][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Separator.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/separator. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·