auctor

English

Noun

auctor (plural auctors)

1. Obsolete form of author.
   • 1558, Bartho[lomew] Traheron, An Exposition of a Parte of S. Iohannes Gospel Made in Sondrie Readinges in the English Congregation […]:

     And the ſumme, and meaninge of the wordes, which he now ſetteh forth is this, that the lorde Ieſus, though he ioigned vnto him mãnes nature in time, yet is æterne before al time, without beginning, & the verie auctor, maker, & prince of al men, high and low, and the true fountaine of al goodnes, righteouſnes, and holines, and of al the benefites, and graces, that at anie time haue ben giuen to mẽ, ſithens the begĩninge of the world, or ſhable giuen hereafter to the ende of the world.

   • 1565, Thomas Dorman, A Disproufe of M. Novvelles Reproufe, Antwerp: […] Iohn Laet, page 206:

     Yow ſee that he is a plaine makebate, and to mende his cauſe by ſetting the doctours at variance betwene them ſelues, how he heweth, mangleth, and cutteth awaie from the auctors that he alleageth, wordes, yea ſentences to ſerue his purpoſe.

   • 1583, William Fulke, A Defense of the Sincere and True Translations of the Holie Scriptures into the English Tong, Against the Manifolde Cauils, Friuolous Quarels, and Impudent Slaunders of Gregorie Martin, One of the Readers of Popish Diuinitie in the Trayterous Seminarie of Rhemes, London: […] Henrie Bynneman, for George Bishop, pages 30–31:

     But if wee would bring any booke out of credite by denying the auctor whoſe title it hath borne: wee would rather intitle it to ſome other writer of leſſe credite, or later tyme, or by ſome other argumentes proue it vnworthie of credite, not by onely denying it to be the auctors, vnder whoſe name it hath bene receyued.

   • 1598, Iohn Florio, A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and Exact Dictionarie in Italian and English, London: […] Arnold Hatfield for Edw. Blount:

     If any thinke I had great helpes of Alunno, or of Venuti, let him confer, and knovve I haue in tvvo, yea almost in one of my letters of the Alphabet more vvordes, then they haue in all their tvventie; and they are but for a fevv auctors in the Italian toong, mine for moſt that vvrite well, as may appeere by the Catalog of bookes that I haue read through of purpoſe for the accompliſhing of this Dictionarie.

Anagrams

• turaco, curato, cuatro, outcar, actour, cuarto

Latin

Alternative forms

• autor, author (considered to be incorrect, but do at least occur in older New Latin)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *auktōr, cognate to Umbrian 𐌖𐌇𐌕𐌖𐌓 (uhtur). Equivalent to augeō (“to increase, nourish”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯k.tor/, [ˈäu̯kt̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯k.tor/, [ˈäu̯kt̪or]

Noun

auctor m or f (genitive auctōris, feminine auctor or auctrīx); third declension

1. seller, vendor
2. author, originator

   Synonyms: conditor, creātor

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 1.287–288:

     Iāne, fac aeternōs pācem pācisque ministrōs,
     nēve suum, praestā, dēserat auctor opus.

     O Janus, make peace and its ministers everlasting,
     and may the author of such an achievement, having prevailed, not abandon it.

3. (figuratively) authorship, agency, encouragement
4. sponsor, advocate
5. surety, witness, voucher

   Synonyms: testis, arbiter

6. (poetic) the Creator, God
7. (also Medieval Latin) one who gives increase (hence: an originator, causer, doer, founder)

Usage notes

Normally masculine, but also used occasionally in Classical Latin as a feminine noun referring to a woman (uniquely among agent nouns ending in the suffix -tor). The use of auctor in reference to women is attested as early as Plautus. The separate feminine form auctrīx is attested postclassically in Tertullian and later authors, but never became frequent.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	auctor	auctōrēs
genitive	auctōris	auctōrum
dative	auctōrī	auctōribus
accusative	auctōrem	auctōrēs
ablative	auctōre	auctōribus
vocative	auctor	auctōrēs

Derived terms

• auctōritās
• auctorizō
• auctor vītae
• auctrīx

Descendants

• → German: Auctor, Autor, Author (see there for further descendants)
• → English: lamed auctoris
• → Irish: ughdar, údar
• → Italian: autore
  • → Albanian: autore
• → Norman: auteu
• Old French: autor, auctor, auctour, auctur, autour, autur
  • Middle French: autheur, aucteur, auctour, auteur, autteur
    • French: auteur (see there for further descendants)
  • → Middle English: auctour, auctor, autor, autour, author, auther
    • English: author
    • Scots: author
• Old Galician-Portuguese: autor, auctor
  • Galician: autor
  • Portuguese: autor
• → Romanian: autor
• → Spanish: autor
• → Welsh: awdur

Further reading

• “auctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “auctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• auctor in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• auctor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to have as authority for a thing: auctore aliquo uti ad aliquid
    
  • an historian: rerum auctor (as authority)
    
  • the writer, author: scriptor (not auctor = guarantor)
    
  • (ambiguous) to give a person advice: auctorem esse alicui, ut
    
  • (ambiguous) to have as authority for a thing: auctorem aliquem habere alicuius rei
    
  • (ambiguous) the book is attributed to an unknown writer: liber refertur ad nescio quem auctorem
    
  • (ambiguous) statesmen: auctores consilii publici
    
• “auctor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• auctor in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “auctor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Middle English

Noun

auctor

1. Alternative form of auctour

Portuguese

Noun

auctor m (plural auctores, feminine auctora, feminine plural auctoras)

1. Obsolete spelling of autor.