delator Latin · revision 32169

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=59 BC–17 AD, Livy|origins=ine-pro *bʰer-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēlātor''' ''m'' (genitive dēlātōris, feminine dēlātrīx); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dēferō|-tor|t1=to bring down, report, denounce]], formed on the participle ⟨dēlātus⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) The verb is [[m|la|dē-]] with [[m|la|ferō|t=to carry]], whose participle stem comes from another root; de Vaan traces [[m|la|ferō]] to [[itc-pro|*fere/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*bʰer-e/o-|t=to carry]].^(de Vaan 2008) Isidore explained the word as one who uncovers what was hidden.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Livy.^(Köbler 2010) The OLD's earliest examples include an inscribed edict concerning the Anauni, where an informer is said to have shown that some of them belonged to Trent.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis & Short note that it is post-Augustan and especially frequent in Tacitus and Suetonius.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is first an informant, and then a denouncer, accuser or informer, also of high treason: Martial celebrates the informer exiled from Rome, and Pliny the Younger's ''Panegyric'' calls for informers to be judged like brigands.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) With a genitive it is the accuser of a crime, as Seneca's informer who is himself guilty of the crime he reports.^(OLD 2012) Tertullian and Lactantius call the devil the accuser.^(TLL) Church Latin also gives it the sense bearer or cross-bearer.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of an informer guilty himself.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial of informers exiled.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it often.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian calls the devil the accuser.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|informant]]; a carrier of information.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A denouncer, accuser, [[m|en|informer]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A bearer; a cross-bearer.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dēlātōrius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[defero|alt=dēferō]]

+ * [[delatio|alt=dēlātiō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}