amator Latin · revision 4017

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=la amō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [aˈmaː.tɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [aˈmaː.tor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''amātor''' ''m'' (genitive amātōris, feminine amātrīx); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|amō|-tor|t1=to love]], an agent noun.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus, in the Pseudolus, has a lover mocked as empty as a hollow nut.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus about 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a lover in the sexual sense, sometimes of illicit love, as of Jupiter in Plautus' Amphitryon.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) It also meant a devoted friend, as in Lucilius and Cicero, and an enthusiastic admirer of a person or thing, of the city or the country in Horace, of wisdom or peace in Cicero.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero says Cato lacks ''amatores'', meaning readers.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Döderlein notes that ''amans'' and ''amator'' express a warmer affection than ''amicus'' but imply no return of it.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ In Christian and medieval Latin it was used of spiritual love, of a loyal follower, and as an epithet of saints.^(MLW)^(Köbler 2010) French ''amateur'' comes from it, and English took ''amateur'' from French in 1784, of one who has a taste for an art without practising it.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a lover.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a devoted friend.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+ * 1784 – English ''amateur'' is borrowed from its French descendant.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|lover]], admirer; a [[m|en|paramour]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A devoted friend.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An enthusiastic admirer, a [[m|en|devotee]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A lover in a spiritual sense; a follower.^(MLW)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[amatorculus]]

+ * [[amātōrius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|amateur]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''amicus'', a calm and mutual affection, from ''amans'' and ''amator'', a warmer feeling that need not be returned, ''amans'' denoting a passing state.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}