auctrix

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin auctrix.

Noun

auctrix (plural not attested)

1. (medicine, archaic) A class of natural faculty.
   • 1826, “Article XII. – Retrospective Review. – Tractatus de Ventriculo et Intestinis, cui præmittitur alius…”, in The North American Medical and Surgical Journal, page 145:

     Under the class of natural faculties, we find three principal sorts; to wit, a facultas generatrix, an auctrix, and a nutrix.

Latin

Alternative forms

• authrīx, autrīx

Etymology

Derived from auctor, from Latin auctus, perfect passive participle of augeō (“to increase, nourish”). By surface analysis, auc(tor) (“originator”) +‎ -trīx (“-ess, -rix”, feminine agent noun suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯k.triːks/, [ˈäu̯kt̪riːks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯k.triks/, [ˈäu̯kt̪riks]

Noun

auctrīx f (genitive auctrīcis, masculine auctor); third declension

1. (Late Latin) a female originator
   • 211-212, Tertullian, De corona‎^[1], pages 4–5:

     Traditio tibi prætendetur auctrix, consuetudo confirmatrix, et fides observatrix.

     Tradition will be held forth to you as the originator of them, custom as their strengthener, and faith as their observer.

   • c. 400, Augustine of Hippo, In festo Assumptionis B. Mariæ‎^[2]:

     Auctrix peccati Eva ; auctrix meriti Maria. Eva occidendo obfuit ; Maria vivificando profuit. Illa percussit ; ista sanavit.

     Eve was the authoress of sin, Mary the authoress of merit. Eve injured us by giving death, Mary benefits us by giving life. The one wounded, the other healed.

   • 1175-1190, Hildegard of Bingen, Symphonia‎^[3], page 110:

     Ave Maria, o auctrix vitae

     Hail Mary, originator of life

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	auctrīx	auctrīcēs
Genitive	auctrīcis	auctrīcum
Dative	auctrīcī	auctrīcibus
Accusative	auctrīcem	auctrīcēs
Ablative	auctrīce	auctrīcibus
Vocative	auctrīx	auctrīcēs

Descendants

• Italian: autrice
• Middle English: auctrice, auctrix
  • English: auctrix, authrix
• Middle French: actrixe, auctrice, auctrixe, authrice
  • French: autrice, auctrice
    • Dutch: autrice

References

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