populator Latin · revision 34703

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''populātor''' ''m'' (genitive populātōris); third declension^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|populor|-tor|t1=to ravage, plunder]].^(OLD 2012)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) The verb is a derivative of [[m|la|populus#1|t=people]]; de Vaan thinks the sense “to devastate” grew out of the use “to have an army pass through”, since the noun goes back to [[itc-pro|*poplo-|t=army]], whose further origin is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis & Short think it is perhaps not found before the Augustan age;^(Lewis & Short 1879) it appears in Livy, of ravagers of the fields,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) and in Ovid,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010) meaning a [[m|en|plunderer]] or ravager.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Poets extended it to animals and natural forces: Martial calls a boar the ravager of the Tuscan acorn, and Valerius Flaccus calls Sirius the ravager of the Calabrian field.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Figuratively it meant a destroyer or consumer, as in Claudian's “luxury, the waster of wealth” and in a declamation attributed to Quintilian, where it is paired with a word for the overthrower of a city.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Lucan and Claudian use it in the plural of enemies who lay fields waste.^(TLL)

+

+ British Medieval Latin kept the classical sense, with figurative uses, from Tatwine's riddles on;^(DMLBS) Niermeyer records a medieval sense “settler”, a colonist.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy speaks of ravagers of the fields.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a destroyer of Troy.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a boar.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 39–65 AD – Lucan uses it of enemies laying fields waste.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|plunderer]], ravager, [[m|en|spoiler]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(poetic)'' An animal or natural force that lays waste.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A destroyer, waster.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|settler]], colonist.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[populus#1]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}