latrocinor Latin · revision 35910

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=la latrō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɫaˈtroː.kɪ.nɔr], [ɫatˈroː.kɪ.nɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [laˈtrɔː.t͡ʃi.nor], [latˈrɔː.t͡ʃi.nor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''latrōcinor''' (present infinitive latrōcinārī, perfect active latrōcinātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|latrō#2|-cinor|t1=mercenary; robber]].^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) The OLD explains it as made from [[m|la|latrōcinium|t=military service for pay; brigandage]] in the same way.^(OLD 2012) The origin of that noun for “mercenary” is disputed: it is often compared with [[grc|λάτρις|tr=látris|t=hired servant]] and traced to an Indo-European root, but Beekes takes it as a borrowing from an unattested [[m|grc|*λάτρων|tr=*látrōn]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL first records it in Plautus,^(TLL) in the old sense of serving as a hired soldier: in the ''Miles Gloriosus'' a soldier's slave is asked whether he thinks he may do as he likes because he and his fellows serve for pay.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its early sense, “to serve as a mercenary”, belongs to Plautus, who also has a man going off to serve in Asia or Cilicia and another who served King Demetrius for ten years;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) in the ''Poenulus'' he uses it jokingly of things that “rob” a man because they want ready cash.^(TLL) Lewis & Short call this sense ante-classical.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ From Cicero on it means “to practise brigandage”: Catiline would rather be killed as a brigand than live as an exile, and the Cretans and Aetolians, Cicero says, think robbery honourable;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) he also uses it of piracy, setting seafaring peoples who sailed for trade beside those who sailed to plunder.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Celsus applies it to a doctor who dissects a body, and Pliny the Elder to the stingray, which lies in ambush and strikes passing fish with its spine.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ It is also used transitively, of harrying a stretch of land or sea: Seneca the Elder speaks of pirates who plunder lands and seas alike, and Florus has it of a gulf.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) Eutropius construes it with a dative, of capturing Roman ships.^(Georges 1913) An active form is found in the ''Historia Augusta'', and Augustine has the adverb ''latrōcinanter'', “like a robber”.^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of serving as a hired soldier.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of brigandage and piracy.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus applies it to a doctor dissecting a body.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a predatory fish.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 120 AD – Florus uses it transitively, of harrying a gulf.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To serve as a [[m|en|mercenary]] soldier.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To practise [[m|en|brigandage]] or [[m|en|piracy]], to rob.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (of predatory animals) To lie in wait for prey.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (transitive) To [[m|en|harry]], plunder (a stretch of land or sea).^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[latrō#2]]

+ * [[latrōcinium]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The active ''latrōcinō'' occurs once, in the ''Historia Augusta''.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}