suffragator

Forms

suffrāgātor m (genitive suffrāgātōris); third declension^[1] It is also spelled subfrāgātor.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin suffrāgor (“to vote for, support”) + -tor.^[3][1] De Vaan treats the family under suffrāgium (“vote”), based on a verb or noun ⟨*sub-frāg-⟩;^[4] as its oldest senses concern voting, he notes the view that it belongs to frangō (“to break”), those who shout in support of a candidate, though this is not proven.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] in whom a character threatens to punish someone and his supporters, te et suffragatores tuos ulciscar.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the Republic it is a person who supports a candidate for office, as voter or canvasser.^[3][5] Cicero speaks of a man better known to historians than to voters, and the Commentariolum petitionis says that false friends can become firm supporters.^[2] Seneca has candidates who stop canvassing and start to work as supporters for others.^[2] In a wider sense it is any favourer or supporter: Varro, Suetonius and Pliny the Younger use it so.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of supporters in general.^[2][4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of voters for a candidate.^[2][6]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of canvassers.^[2][6]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius, of a supporter.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A supporter of a candidate for office, as voter or canvasser.^[3][2][1]
2. A favourer, supporter, partisan.^[2][5]

Related words

• suffrāgor
• suffrāgium
• refrāgor

References

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