ianitor Latin · revision 691

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''iānitor''' ''m'' (genitive iānitōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed from [[ianus|alt=iānus]] “arched passage, doorway” or from [[ianua|alt=iānua]] “door” with the agent suffix [[m|la|-tor]].^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Etymonline) ''Iānus'' goes back to [[itc-pro|*jānu-|t=door]], from [[ine-pro|*yeh₂-n-u-|t=passage]], from the root of [[sa|याति|tr=yā́ti|t=goes]].^(de Vaan 2008) Varro quotes an old form [[m|la|ianitos]] from the Salian hymn.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who has a visitor knock and call “hey, is there a [[m|en|doorkeeper]] here? Open up!”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It meant a doorkeeper or porter, often a slave chained near the entrance, and also the keeper of a prison.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) The TLL notes that the word is old but rare in form, that after Cicero it is mostly poetic, and that ''ostiarius'' and ''portarius'' took over in prose; it did not pass into the Romance languages.^(TLL) Poets called Cerberus the ''ianitor'' of the underworld, and Ovid calls Janus the doorkeeper of heaven.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ In Christian usage the porter was the lowest of the holy orders, and Saint Peter was the doorkeeper of heaven.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) English borrowed it as [[en|janitor]] in the 1580s, first meaning an usher in a school, and later a caretaker of a building.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a doorkeeper.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero mentions the doorkeeper of a prison.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Cerberus the doorkeeper of Orcus.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid calls Janus the doorkeeper of heaven.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1580s – English borrows it as [[en|janitor]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|doorkeeper]], porter.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(poetic)'' Cerberus, the doorkeeper of the underworld, or Janus, the doorkeeper of heaven.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' A porter, the lowest of the holy orders.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[iānitrīx]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[iānus]]

+ * [[iānua]]

+ * [[en|janitor]]

+ * [[en|January]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}