tonsor
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Pronunciation
Forms
tōnsor m (genitive tōnsōris, feminine tōnstrīx); third declension[1] An inscription has the form tōsor.[2][3]
Etymology
It is from Latin tondeō (“to shear, clip”) + -tor, from the supine stem of the verb.[2][1] De Vaan traces tondeō to Proto-Italic *tond-eje- and Proto-Indo-European *tond-eie- (“to shear”), comparing Ancient Greek τένδω (téndō, “to gnaw at”).[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus.[4][5]
Semantic evolution
It is one who cuts hair, beards or nails, a barber: Lewis & Short cite it from Varro, Cicero, Horace, Martial and Suetonius.[2][3] Wiktionary also gives a gardener who prunes and trims.[1] In Medieval Latin it was a sheep-shearer and one who clipped coins.[6]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4][5]
- 116–27 BC – Varro.[3][5]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero.[3][5]
- 65–8 BC – Horace.[3][5]
Meanings
Noun
- One who cuts hair, a barber.[2][3][1]
- A gardener who prunes plants.[1]
- (Medieval Latin) A sheep-shearer; one who clips coins.[6]
Word family
- tōnsōrius
Related words
- tondeō
- tōnsilis
- tōnsiō
- tōnstrīcula
- tōnstrīna
- tōnstrīnum
- tōnstrīx
- tōnsūra
- tōnsus
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill