English

Noun

tractator ‎(plural tractators)

1. (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.

2. A person who writes tracts.
3. A Tractarian.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Kingsley to this entry?)

Related terms

• tract

Translations

Latin

Etymology

From tractō ‎(“handle, manage, transact”) +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /trakˈtaː.tor/

Noun

tractātor m ‎(genitive tractātōris); third declension

1. (Classical) masseur
2. (Classical) imperial official, manager
3. (Late Latin) commentator, homilist
4. (Late Latin) accountant
5. (Medieval Latin) tractator, entrepreneur; person responsible for shipping and handling merchandise on behalf of an investor

Inflection

Third declension.

Related terms

• tractābilis
• tractātiō
• tractātrīx
• tractātus
• tractō

Descendants

• English: tractator

Verb

tractātor

1. second-person singular future passive imperative of tractō
2. 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, 1883–1887)
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “tractator”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.
• tractator in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers