tractator
English
WOTD – 28 November 2013, 28 November 2014
Etymology
From Latin tractātor (“manager, homilist”).
Pronunciation
- (UK) IPA(key): /tɹækˈteɪ.tə/
Audio (RP) (file)
Noun
tractator (plural tractators)
- (historical) In medieval commerce, the person who handles or transports merchandise on behalf of an investor; an entrepreneur.
- 1987, John H. Pryor, Commerce, Shipping and Naval Warfare in the Medieval Mediterranean, page 172:
- As well as being greatly useful to tractators who wanted to go on to further voyages or to stay overseas for a longer period, it was also indispensable when a tractator fell ill or died.
-
- A person who writes tracts.
- A Tractarian.
- 1842, Charles Kingsley, a letter:
- Do you not see the noble standard of Christian morality , and its infinite superiority to this ? Talking of the Tractators […]
-
Related terms
- tract
Translations
historical: person in medieval commerce who handles or transports merchandise
person who writes tracts
Anagrams
- attractor
Latin
Etymology
From tractō (“handle, manage, transact”) + -tor.
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /trakˈtaː.tor/, [t̪räkˈt̪äːt̪ɔr]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /trakˈta.tor/, [t̪räkˈt̪äːt̪or]
Noun
tractātor m (genitive tractātōris, feminine tractātrīx); third declension
- (Classical Latin) masseur
- (Classical Latin) imperial official, manager
- (Late Latin) commentator, homilist
- (Late Latin) accountant
- (Medieval Latin) tractator, entrepreneur, person responsible for shipping and handling merchandise on behalf of an investor
Declension
Third-declension noun.
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | tractātor | tractātōrēs |
| Genitive | tractātōris | tractātōrum |
| Dative | tractātōrī | tractātōribus |
| Accusative | tractātōrem | tractātōrēs |
| Ablative | tractātōre | tractātōribus |
| Vocative | tractātor | tractātōrēs |
Related terms
- tractābilis
- tractātiō
- tractātrīx
- tractātus
- tractō
Descendants
- English: tractator
Verb
tractātor
- second/third-person singular future passive imperative of tractō
References
- “tractator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- tractator 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)
- tractator in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- “tractator”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers