auctors
|auc-tors|
🇺🇸
/ˈɔktərz/
🇬🇧
/ˈɔːktəz/
(auctor)
originator; creator (one who gives authority or brings something into being)
Etymology
'auctors' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'auctor', where the root 'aug-' (from 'augēre') meant 'to increase' and 'auctor' came to mean 'one who causes, produces, or originates' (hence 'author').
'auctor' existed in Classical Latin with the sense 'originator, promoter, author'. It continued in Medieval Latin and was borrowed into Middle English (as 'auctor') for learned or legal/bibliographic uses; the English plural 'auctors' is formed from this borrowed noun and is used chiefly in scholarly contexts.
Initially, it meant 'one who increases or produces' (related to 'augment'), but over time it specialized to mean 'originator' or 'author'; in modern scholarly English it is used mainly as a technical/Latin-derived term meaning 'author(s)'.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
plural of 'auctor' (a Latin-derived term meaning 'author' or 'originator'); used to mean 'authors'.
The catalog listed several historical auctors who wrote about the same event.
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Noun 2
in scholarly, bibliographic, or taxonomic usage (often abbreviated auct. or auctt.), refers to 'various authors' or to usages by later authors (e.g., in the phrase 'auctors non' indicating misapplied names).
The species name as used by auctors does not match the original description.
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Last updated: 2025/11/17 18:42