fictor Latin · revision 36465

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fictor''' ''m'' (genitive fictōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|fingō|-tor|t1=to shape, fashion]], an agent noun.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces the verb to [[itc-pro|*finge/o-|t=to knead, form]] and [[ine-pro|*dʰi-n-ǵʰ-]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who calls someone ''omnium lēgum atque iūrum fictor'', “the maker of all laws and rights”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its main sense is a modeller of images, a sculptor:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucilius mocks a sculptors' booth with ''pergula fictōrum, vērī nihil, omnia ficta'', “a sculptors' shop: nothing real, all made up”,^(OLD 2012) and Cicero says that we know the gods with the faces that painters and sculptors chose for them.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In religious language it was an attendant of the priests who kneaded the sacrificial cakes;^(OLD 2012) Ennius names the ''fictōrēs'' among the institutions of Numa.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ More generally it is anyone who devises or makes something,^(OLD 2012) and Christian Latin uses it for the maker or creator.^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus calls someone the maker of laws.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius mentions the priests' cake-makers.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius mentions a sculptors' booth.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero pairs painters and sculptors.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A person who shapes images, a [[m|en|modeller]], [[m|en|sculptor]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(religion)'' An attendant of the priests who kneaded the sacrificial cakes.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A person who devises or makes something, a [[m|en|contriver]].^(OLD 2012)

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

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}