dispensator Latin · revision 33377

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=itc-pro *pend-e/o-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dispēnsātor''' ''m'' (genitive dispēnsātōris, feminine dispēnsātrīx); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dispēnsō|-tor|t1=to weigh out, pay out, manage]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) [[m|la|dispēnsō]] is formed from [[m|la|dis-|t=apart]] and [[m|la|pēnsō|t=to weigh]], which comes from [[m|la|pendō|t=to hang, weigh out, pay]].^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|pendō]] to [[itc-pro|*pend-e/o-|t=to hang]], with the sense shifting from hanging something up to weighing it out and so to paying; he records the verb, in the sense “to pay, administer”, from Plautus on.^(de Vaan 2008) Varro derived the word from weighing out bronze, and Paulus' epitome of Festus says stewards were so called because they weighed money out rather than counting it.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) who says in the ''De re publica'' that a steward knows his letters: ''dispensator litteras scit''.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Varro uses it in his explanation of the word.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a household steward or manager, and the treasurer or cashier who kept the accounts;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short note that these were usually the most trusted slaves, but under the emperors sometimes freeborn men.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Suetonius, Juvenal, Martial and Pliny the Elder use it, and it is common in inscriptions.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In Church Latin it is a steward or dispenser,^(Stelten 1995) and in medieval Latin a distributor of alms and the administrator of a manor.^(Niermeyer 1976) It passed into Italian as [[m|it|dispensatore]].^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro explains the word.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a steward who can read.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Genesis.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

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

+ # A [[m|en|treasurer]], cashier, especially of the imperial treasury.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A [[m|en|dispenser]], steward.^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A distributor of [[m|en|alms]]; the administrator of a [[m|en|manor]].^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dispensatorius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dispēnsō]]

+ * [[pēnsō]]

+ * [[pendō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}