venditor

Forms

vēnditor m (genitive vēnditōris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vendō (“to sell”) + -tor.^[2][1] vendō is contracted from a phrase made of vēnum (“sale”) and dō (“to give”), “to give for sale”.^[2][1] Wiktionary traces vēnum to Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to buy”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Cicero,^[3] who argues in De officiis that the buyer should not be ignorant of anything the seller knows.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is a seller or vendor, the opposite of emptor, the buyer, and it is common in the Digest.^[4][2] Cicero also uses it scornfully of men who sell for bribes: “not consuls but traders in provinces and sellers of your dignity”.^[2] It runs through the early medieval law codes and charters.^[3] English vendor came in the 1590s through Anglo-French.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the duties of a seller and of officials who sell for bribes.^[2][4][3]
• 1590s – English vendor is borrowed through Anglo-French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A seller, vendor.^[2][4][6][1]
2. One who sells for bribes or corrupt payments.^[2][1]

Word family

• vēnditrīx

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 g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson