ultor

Forms

ultor m (genitive ultōris, feminine ultrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from ulcīscor (“to avenge”), or its participle ⟨ultus⟩, with the agent suffix -tor.^[2][1] De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Italic *ol-k- (“to destroy, take revenge”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃elh₁- (“to perish”), the root of dēleō (“to destroy”); he finds a link with Ancient Greek ἀλκή (alkḗ, “resistance”) unconvincing, and the traditional derivation is from ulcus (“sore”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Accius.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is one who exacts retribution, an avenger or punisher, with a genitive of the wrong, of the person avenged or of the one punished, as Cicero's Sicilians who found an avenger of their wrongs and Virgil's exoriāre aliquis nostrīs ex ossibus ultor, “arise, some avenger, from my bones”.^[2][5] In apposition it is almost an adjective, of the means of vengeance, as Propertius' avenging fires of Nauplius and Ovid's boar sent as an avenger.^[2][5]

Ultor, the Avenger, was a title of Mars, in Ovid, Tacitus and Suetonius.^[5][1] Church Latin glosses it “avenger, punisher”.^[6]

Timeline

• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the avenger of the Sicilians' wrongs.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil: exoriāre aliquis nostrīs ex ossibus ultor.^[5][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of Mars Ultor.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An avenger, punisher.^[2][5][1][6]
2. (in apposition) Avenging, vengeful.^[2][5][1]
3. Ultor: the Avenger, a title of Mars.^[5][1]

Related words

• ulcīscor
• ultiō
• ultrīx
• ultus
• inultus
• vindex

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson