conservator Latin · revision 32413

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la servō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cōnservātor''' ''m'' (genitive cōnservātōris, feminine cōnservātrīx); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|cōnservō|-tor|t1=to preserve]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|cōnservō]] is a compound of [[m|la|servō|t=to keep, watch]], which de Vaan, following Rix, derives from an old noun [[itc-pro|*serwā-|t=observation]], beside [[m|itc-pro|*serwo-|t=guard, shepherd]], the source of [[m|la|servus|t=slave]]; he traces the stem to [[ine-pro|*ser-u-o-|t=guardian]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it first, and most often, in Cicero, who calls the immortal gods the guardians and preservers of the city.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a person who preserves, a saviour: Cicero uses it of the preserver of the city, the state and the fatherland, and contrasts the preserver of his enemies with the deserter of his friends.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) After Cicero it becomes rare except in inscriptions, where it is an epithet of Jupiter, and poets avoid it.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Velleius calls Augustus the founder and preserver of the Roman name, and Tacitus tells of a man who took the title in its Greek form.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Tertullian once uses it of a worshipper.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Medieval Latin it is also the bearer of a letter and an attorney.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of the gods as preservers of Rome.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius of Augustus as preserver of the Roman name.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English [[m|en|conservator]] is borrowed through Anglo-French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|preserver]], keeper, defender, [[m|en|saviour]]; an epithet of Jupiter.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A worshipper.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The bearer of a letter; an [[m|en|attorney]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[conservo|alt=cōnservō]]

+ * [[servo|alt=servō]]

+ * [[en|conservator]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}