suasor

Forms

suāsor m (genitive suāsōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin suādeō (“to advise, recommend”) + -tor.^[2][1] De Vaan explains the verb as an old causative meaning “to make sweet, render agreeable”, beside suāvis (“sweet”); it goes back to Proto-Italic *swādeje- (“to render agreeable”) and Proto-Indo-European *su(o)h₂d-eie- (“to render tasty”).^[3] The same root gives Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús, “sweet, pleasant”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Plautus,^[3][4] who has mē suāsōre atque impulsōre id factum, “that was done on my advice and at my urging”.^[2][5] Lewis & Short and Conte also cite a line of Ennius' Annals, preserved by Gellius.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a person who advises or urges a course of action,^[2][5] often with a genitive of what is urged: Cicero writes suāsor et impulsor profectiōnis, of someone who urged and pressed for a journey,^[5] and Georges cites suāsor factī and dēditiōnis from Cicero.^[7] In politics it is the speaker who supports a proposed law, as in Cicero's suāsor lēgis Cinciae and Livy's suāsor lēgis.^[2][7][6] In the schools of rhetoric it named the author of a suāsōria, a speech of advice, in Seneca the Elder.^[2][6] Ecclesiastical Latin kept the sense “adviser”,^[8] and medieval writers in Britain used it from Bede on, both for one who urges an action and for one who speaks for a cause: Alcuin writes melius est ūnus suāsor vēritātis quam mīlle adūlātōrēs falsitātis, “one advocate of truth is better than a thousand flatterers of falsehood”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the man on whose advice something was done.^[2][4]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it in the Annals.^[5][6][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the suāsor of a law and of a journey.^[2][5][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has suāsor lēgis.^[7][4]
• 800 – Alcuin contrasts the suāsor vēritātis with flatterers.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. An adviser, one who recommends or urges a course of action.^[2][5][7]
2. One who speaks in favour of a proposed law, an advocate.^[2][6]
3. (rhetoric) The composer of a suāsōria, a speech of advice.^[2][6]

Word family

• suāsōrius

Related words

• suādeō
• persuādeō
• suāvis

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 c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b 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