spoliator

Forms

spoliātor m (genitive spoliātōris, feminine spoliātrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin spoliō (“to strip, rob”) + -tor.^[2][3][4] The verb is made from spolium (“hide; spoils”),^[5] which de Vaan traces back to Proto-Italic *spoli(o)- (“skin, hide”) and Proto-Indo-European *spol(H)-i(o)- (“what is split, stripped off”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it in the Verrines, of the man who despoiled and damaged monuments: si tu eorum spoliatorem vexatoremque defendes (“if you defend the man who plundered and harmed them”).^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it rare but classical.^[6] Livy speaks of the robbers of a temple,^[2][3] and in Seneca and later it is also used of a person who robs other people, especially of the man who strips orphans of their property, as in Seneca and Juvenal.^[2][6] Pliny the Younger, in the Panegyricus, pairs it with carnifex “executioner”.^[2]

British medieval writers use it of robbers and of those who seize another's property,^[7] and Robert of Melun calls Christ the despoiler of hell.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the plunderer of monuments.^[2][6][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of robbers of a temple.^[2][6][4]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a robber of orphans.^[2][4]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of the despoiler of a ward.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. One who plunders or despoils a place or property.^[2][6]
2. One who robs a person.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) Of Christ, the despoiler of hell.^[7]

Usage notes

Wiktionary gives the feminine spoliātrīx.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c 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