cursor Latin · revision 33100

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *krs-e/o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkʊr.sɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈkur.sor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cursor''' ''m'' (genitive cursōris, feminine cursrīx); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|currō|-tor|t1=to run]], built on the stem ⟨curs-⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) De Vaan traces [[m|la|currō]] to [[itc-pro|*korse/o-|t=to run]] and [[ine-pro|*krs-e/o-|t=to run]]; he explains that the nouns in ⟨curs-⟩ are built on the participle, which is itself a later formation.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and the OLD find it first in Plautus;^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) in the ''Trinummus'' someone steals the ground from under a runner in a race.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a runner, and in particular a runner in a race: Varro compares the body to a runner and the place to the stadium, and Lucretius and Cicero use it so.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Ovid uses it of a charioteer holding back his eager horse.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also a messenger or courier: Nepos uses it of Phidippides, a runner of the kind called ''hēmerodromoe'', and Pliny the Elder of Alexander's runner Philonides.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Under the Empire it is a footman who runs ahead of a carriage: Petronius has a man put into a litter with four decorated runners going before it.^(OLD 2012) It was a cognomen of the Papirii, above all of Lucius Papirius Cursor, consul and dictator in the Second Samnite War.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Medieval Latin it also means a court bailiff, a scout riding ahead of an army, a pedlar, and a teacher who gives extra lectures.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a runner in a race.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 100–24 BC – Nepos of a courier.^(OLD 2012)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius of footmen running ahead.^(OLD 2012)

+ * c. 1300 – [[m|en|cursor]] appears in English, first as a surname, “a running messenger”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|runner]]; a runner in a race; a charioteer.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

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

+ # A footman who runs ahead of a carriage or litter.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A court officer, [[m|en|bailiff]]; a scout riding ahead of an army.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|pedlar]]; a teacher who gives extra lectures.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[antecursor]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[curriculum]]

+ * [[currō]]

+ * [[currus]]

+ * [[cursim]]

+ * [[cursiō]]

+ * [[en|cursor]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ As a proper name ''Cursor'' was a cognomen, best known from Lucius Papirius Cursor.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}