author English · revision 3146

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1300|origins=la augēre}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈɔː.θə/, US /ˈɑː.θɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|autour]], auctour,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|xno|auctour]], autour,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986) Old French autor, auctor (modern auteur),^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) from [[la|auctor|t=promoter, producer, father; founder; trustworthy writer]],^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) literally “one who causes to grow”,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) an agent noun from auctus, the past participle of [[m|la|augēre|t=to increase]],^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) which Etymonline takes to [[ine-pro|*h₂ewg-|alt=*aug-|t=to increase]].^(Etymonline) Latin -ct- had already become -t- in some parts of Italy, and autor appears in late classical Latin, though it was considered an error.^(Etymonline) The spelling with -th-, a scribal variant in French, came in during the Renaissance on the mistaken belief that the word was Greek,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) perhaps helped by [[authentic]];^(NODE 1998) it appeared in English in the early 1500s and in time changed the pronunciation.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ One who begets, a father or ancestor: about 1300, a sense now obsolete;^(OED 1989) “one who makes or creates something” is from the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In medieval English an author was the person who originated, invented or caused something, and God was called “the Author of all”.^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) From the late 14th century it was also the writer or original composer of a text, as distinct from a compiler, translator or copyist,^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) and a source of authoritative information, a sense now archaic but surviving in [[authority]].^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) In Middle English the word was sometimes confused with [[actor]].^(Etymonline) The verb, “to originate, cause”, from 1596, died out after the 1630s^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989) and was revived in the 1940s, chiefly in the United States, in the sense “to write”.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) ''Authorship'' is from 1710.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1300 – a father, ancestor.^(OED 1989)

+ * mid-14th century – creator, originator.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1380 – the writer of a text.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1529 – the spelling ''author'', in Thomas More.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1596 – verb, to originate.^(Barnhart 1988)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1710 – ''authorship''.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1940s – verb revived, to write.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The writer of a [[book]] or other text; a person whose profession is writing.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # A person who creates or begins something; an [[originator]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # ''the Author'': [[God]], as creator.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To be the author of; to write.^(MW Collegiate)^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[authorial]]

+ * [[authorless]]

+ * [[authoress]]

+ * [[coauthor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[authorization]]

+ * [[authorisation]]

+ * [[authority]]

+ * [[authorship]]

+ * [[auteur]]

+ * [[authorize]]

+ * [[augment]]

+ * [[auction]]

+ * [[auxiliary]]

+ * [[eke]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The revived verb ''author'' is not quite a synonym of write: it suggests taking responsibility for the content of a text, so one can write, but not author, a love letter.^(AHD) In Scots and Gloucestershire use ''my author'' meant “my informant”.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}