ministrator Latin · revision 35917

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 235–200 BC, Naevius|origins=ine-pro *meih1-iō̆s-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

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

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ministrō|-tor|t1=to attend, serve]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of [[m|la|minor#2|t=smaller]], beside [[m|la|minister|t=servant]], which he derives from [[itc-pro|*minos-tero-]]; [[m|la|minor#2]] goes back to [[m|itc-pro|*minōs|t=less]] and [[ine-pro|*meih1-iō̆s-|t=less]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found first in Naevius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) in a fragment of his epic where the attendants at a sacrifice throw down the entrails.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was an attendant or servant, especially one who waited at table:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero has a man who did not look at his handsome waiters, Seneca the crowd of servants who run to bring in dinner at a signal, and Petronius a cup-bearer.^(TLL)^(Conte 2010) Inscriptions name the ''ministratores'' of emperors from Tiberius on, organised in decuries.^(TLL)^(Georges 1913) Varro reports that Cato called the ''accensi'' ''ministratores''.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Cicero also uses it of an assistant who stands by a speaker and prompts him with arguments, an image the Bobbio scholia explain from the man who handed weapons to gladiators.^(TLL)^(Gaffiot 2016) Suetonius, in the life of Vitellius, uses it of playing the assistant to Gaius as he drove a chariot,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and in the ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' it is the officer of a proconsul.^(TLL) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means one who serves.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of attendants at a sacrifice.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro reports Cato's use of it for the ''accensi''.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of waiters and of a speaker's prompter.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a cup-bearer.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of an assistant to a charioteer.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|attendant]], servant, especially a [[m|en|waiter]] at table or a cup-bearer.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # An attendant at a sacrifice.^(TLL)

+ # An assistant who prompts a speaker with arguments; an [[m|en|adviser]].^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' One who serves.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ministrātōrius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ministrō]]

+ * [[minister]]

+ * [[ministra]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}