Etymologically
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sutor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈsuː.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsuː.tor][1]

Forms

sūtor m (genitive sūtōris, feminine sūtrīx); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin suō (“to sew”) + -tor.[2][1] De Vaan traces suō to Proto-Italic *s(j)ūje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *siuH-ie/o- (“to sew”), cognate with Sanskrit सीव्य- (sī́vya-, “to sew”) and Lithuanian siū́ti (“to sew”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler find it first in Plautus,[3][4] who mentions shoemakers twice in the Aulularia.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is a shoemaker or cobbler.[2][5][1] Asellio, quoted by Gellius, speaks of a sandal-maker, sūtor crepidārius, and Varro and Martial use it.[5] Inscriptions name a guild of shoemakers.[5] The word also stood for the common people: Cicero describes shoemakers and belt-makers shouting their approval, and Juvenal uses it the same way.[5][6] Figuratively it is a patcher of things: Sidonius Apollinaris and Augustine speak of a cobbler of tales.[5][6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of shoemakers.[5][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro.[5]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial of a cobbler.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A shoemaker, cobbler.[2][5][1]

Word family

  • sūtōricius
  • sūtrīnus
  • suō
  • sūtōrius
  • cōnsuō

Usage notes

The proverb nē sūtor suprā crepidam, "let the cobbler not judge above the sandal", that is, stick to what one knows, goes back to a story in Pliny the Elder and Valerius Maximus.[5][6]

References

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