censor Latin · revision 680

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkẽː.sɔr]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃɛn.sor]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cēnsor''' ''m'' (genitive cēnsōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[censeo|alt=cēnsēre]] “to assess, estimate” with the agent suffix [[m|la|-tor]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) ''Cēnsēre'' goes back to [[itc-pro|*knsē-|t=to estimate]], from [[ine-pro|*ḱn̥s-|t=to announce, speak solemnly]], as in [[sa|शंसति|tr=śáṃsati|t=recites, praises]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Etymonline) [[osc|keenzstur|t=censor]] was borrowed from Latin, according to de Vaan, while the TLL treats it as the same word.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) The archaic spelling [[m|la|cesor]] appears in a Scipio epitaph.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from the Scipio epitaphs and Cato;^(Köbler 2010) an epitaph reads ''aidiles cosol cesor'' “aedile, consul, [[m|en|censor]]”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was the title of the two Roman magistrates elected every five years, at first for five years and later for eighteen months, who took the census, classified citizens by property, struck names off the rolls for moral or other faults, and let public contracts.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy says they were named from the census.^(Gaffiot 2016) Domitian took the title ''censor perpetuus''.^(OLD 2012) Roman colonies and Sicilian towns also had censors.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ By transfer it meant a severe judge of behaviour and morals, as Horace's ''castigator censorque minorum'' “scold and censor of the young”, and a critic of literary work.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medieval Latin it meant a villein owing rent, a rent collector, a critic and a judge.^(Niermeyer 1976) English borrowed it in the 1530s for the Roman magistrate, and the sense of an official who examines books and plays followed in the 1640s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 3rd century BC – A Scipio epitaph records the office as ''cesor''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato says a husband is like a censor to his divorced wife.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero describes the creation of censors in Sicily.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace calls an old man the censor of the young.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–96 AD – Domitian takes the title ''censor perpetuus''.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 1530s – English borrows it as [[en|censor]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A Roman [[m|en|censor]], one of two magistrates in charge of the census and public morals.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A similar official in a colony or provincial town.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A severe judge of morals; a critic.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A rent-owing villein; a rent collector; a judge.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[censōrīnus]]

+ * [[cēnsūra]]

+ * [[cēnsōrius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cēnsitor]]

+ * [[cēnseō]]

+ * [[cēnsus]]

+ * [[en|censor]]

+ * [[en|census]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}