lictor Latin · revision 31275

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈliːk.tɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈlik.tor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''līctor''' ''m'' (genitive līctōris, feminine līctrīx); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Gellius says it was pronounced with a long ''i'', ''līctor''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain; the OLD marks it doubtful.^(OLD 2012) The TLL thinks it is formed on the root ⟨*lig-⟩ of [[m|la|ligō|t=to bind]], as the ancients already held, and Etymonline renders it “binder”;^(TLL)^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) de Vaan calls the link with ⟨ligō⟩ uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008) Valgius, quoted by Gellius, who agrees, explained that when a magistrate ordered a man flogged his legs and hands were bound, and the attendant whose task was the binding was called ⟨lictor⟩.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler gives Plautus as its first author.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is one of the attendants given in varying numbers to Roman magistrates and other persons of rank, a lictor, a sign of official dignity.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis and Short note that the Romans took the custom from the Etruscans, as in Livy's Romulus, who made himself more majestic by taking twelve lictors, and that the lictors carried the bundle of rods.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “lictor, special attendant”,^(Stelten 1995) and medieval Latin uses it for an executioner.^(Niermeyer 1976) English [[m|en|lictor]] was borrowed in the late 14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of Romulus' twelve lictors.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 14th century – Borrowed into English.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|lictor]], an attendant of a Roman magistrate.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An [[m|en|executioner]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[lictōrius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ligō]]

+ * [[fascis]]

+ * [[virga]]

+ * [[en|lictor]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}