author

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English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from augeō (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in Middle French autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic. Doublet of auteur.

Pronunciation

Noun

author (plural authors)

  1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition.
    The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.
    Have you read any Corinthian authors?
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC:
      Eternal King; thee, Author of all being.
    • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎:
      During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
    • 1755, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, Preface:
      The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.
    • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎:
      During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]
  2. Someone who writes books for a living.
  3. (obsolete, criminal law) Principal; the primary participant in a crime.
    • 1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 10, page 158:
      We hear […] of fratricidal murders, and stern reprisals on their authors.
    • 1894, Franco-Siamese Mixed Court, The Case of Kieng Chek (Kham Muon) before the Franco-Siamese Mixed Court‎, Bangkok: n.p., page 4:
      Accomplices of a crime or an offence shall incur the same punishment as the authors of such a crime or offence, except when the law will have disposed otherwise.
  4. (obsolete) One's authority for something: an informant.
    • 1699, Seven new Colloquies translated out of Erasmus:
      Let me inform you en passant, Ladies, that those Villains the Heathens, as my Authors tell me, (and I thought it wou'd not be amiss to communicate such a nice Observation to this House) used to call our Saviour Chrestus, and not Christus, by way of Contempt and Derision […]

Synonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

writer — see writer
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

author (third-person singular simple present authors, present participle authoring, simple past and past participle authored)

  1. (chiefly US, sometimes proscribed) To create a work as its author.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology

Late variant of auctor and author under influence of descendants such as English author.

Pronunciation

Noun

author m (genitive authōris); third declension

  1. (New Latin, proscribed) Alternative form of auctor: source, creator, vendor, author, artist.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case Singular Plural
Nominative author authōrēs
Genitive authōris authōrum
Dative authōrī authōribus
Accusative authōrem authōrēs
Ablative authōre authōribus
Vocative author authōrēs

References

  • “author”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    “auctor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • auctor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 184f..

Middle English

Noun

author

  1. Alternative form of auctour
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