Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Auctor! Auctor!

I love it when something timely and pithy drops into my e-mail. The following is from the Merriam Webster Word of the Day and tickled me because my WIP is set in Roman London:

"In ancient Rome, auctioneers, grantors, and vendors were known as “auctors.” The title is based on the Latin verb “augēre,” meaning “to promote” or “to increase.” The word “auctor,” which was also used for a person who creates something, passed through Anglo-French and Middle English, eventually evolving (somewhat perplexingly) into the Modern English word “author.” English writers dug up “auctor” again in the early 19th century to form the adjective “auctorial.” The coinage was a somewhat surprising one, given that the word “authorial” had been firmly established in English for over a quarter of a century. Today, “authorial” is the more common of the two words, but modern-day wordsmiths continue to put “auctorial” to use on occasion."

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