Word of the Day

: December 18, 2007

auctorial

adjective awk-TOR-ee-ul

What It Means

: of or relating to an author

auctorial in Context

"The capacity to tell a plain tale is the greatest of the auctorial gifts." (Anthony Burgess, Homage to QWERT YUIOP)

Did You Know?

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.