subscriptor

Forms

subscrīptor m (genitive subscrīptōris, feminine subscrīptrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin subscrībō (“to write underneath, sign”) + -tor,^[2][3] that is ⟨sub-⟩ and scrīptor (“writer”).^[1] De Vaan traces scrībō back to Proto-Italic *skreif-e/o- (“to carve”) and Proto-Indo-European *skreibh-e/o- (“to carve”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,^[5] who uses it in the speech against Caecilius of the men who signed an accusation together with the chief prosecutor.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Republican law a subscrīptor was a person who added his name to an accusation beside the accuser and helped to conduct it, an assistant prosecutor:^[2][3] Cicero calls an opponent's helper vēnālis scrīptor et subscrīptor tuus, “your hired writer and co-signer”,^[3] and a letter of Caelius to Cicero tells of a man who came down to court sine ūllō subscrīptōre.^[3][6] Gellius, in the 2nd century, used it of a person who supports or sanctions a usage: he calls Claudius and Varro subscrīptōrēs approbātōrēsque of a word.^[2][3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a signer or approver,^[7] and in medieval Latin a clerk under a chancellor.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of assistant prosecutors.^[2][5]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a supporter of a usage.^[2][3]
• Medieval Latin – It is used of a chancellor's clerk.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A person who signs an accusation jointly with the accuser; an assistant prosecutor.^[2][3]
2. (transferred) A supporter or approver of something, such as a usage.^[2][3][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A clerk subordinate to a chancellor.^[8]

Related words

• subscrībō
• scrīptor

References

1. ^ a b 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 e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill