hortator Latin · revision 36816

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hortātor''' ''m'' (genitive hortātōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|hortor|-tor|t1=to urge, encourage]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains [[m|la|hortor]] as a frequentative built on a participle ⟨*hortus⟩ of [[m|la|horior|t=to urge on]], or as syncopated from the form ⟨horitāre⟩ that Ennius uses.^(de Vaan 2008) That verb goes back to [[itc-pro|*χerj-]] and [[ine-pro|*ǵʰer-i-|t=to enjoy]], originally perhaps “to be excited”, and has Sabellic cognates meaning “to want”, such as [[xum|heri]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL finds it from Ennius, Plautus and Cicero on;^(TLL) de Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) who uses it of the leader of a ship's rowers.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Cicero it is a person who urges someone on: the encourager and teacher of a study, or a man acting as instigator, backer and go-between (''istō hortātōre, auctōre, intercessōre'').^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Virgil calls Ulysses the instigator of crimes (''hortātor scelerum''),^(Conte 2010) and Ovid praises a friend as a good counsellor, guide and companion.^(Conte 2010) In battle it was the commander who urged on his men: Livy writes that Hannibal himself was there to spur them on.^(OLD 2012) In the circus it apparently named an official who urged on the horses of a chariot team, as in an inscription of a ''hortātor'' of the Blue faction.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Ecclesiastical Latin used it of a comforter or encourager,^(Stelten 1995) and Walter Map writes of someone who is a jester to the king, a flatterer to the mother and an ''hortātor'' to the father.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the leader of the rowers.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an encourager or instigator.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Ulysses an instigator of crimes.^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of a commander urging on his troops.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # One who urges to action, an [[m|en|inciter]], [[m|en|encourager]], instigator.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # One who urges on troops in battle.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(nautical)'' The leader of the rowers.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(circus)'' Apparently, one who urged on the horses in a [[m|en|chariot]] race.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A comforter.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hortātōrius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hortor]]

+ * [[horior]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Hortātor'' is also recorded as a Roman surname in Livy.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}