author

== English == === Alternative forms === aucthor, aucthour, auctor, auctour, auctoure, authour, authoure, autor, autour, autoure (obsolete) === 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 === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɔː.θə(ɹ)/ (Standard Southern British) IPA(key): [ˈoː.θə(ɹ)] (Canada) IPA(key): [ˈɔ(ː)θ(ə)ɹ] (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɔ.θɚ/ (cot–caught merger) IPA(key): /ˈɑ.θɚ/ (obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈɒː.təɹ/ Rhymes: -ɔːθə(ɹ) Hyphenation: au‧thor === Noun === author (plural authors) The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition; or, one of the creators of a collaborative work. (US copyright law) The initial owner of the copyright to a work, especially a work made for hire or a work of corporate authorship. Someone who writes books for a living. (obsolete, criminal law) Principal; the primary participant in a crime. (archaic) One's authority for something: an informant. (figurative) The creator or cause of anything. ==== Synonyms ==== (creator of a work): bookwright, creator, artist, subcreator, fabulator, writer ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === author (third-person singular simple present authors, present participle authoring, simple past and past participle authored) (chiefly US, sometimes proscribed) To create a work as its author. ==== Derived terms ==== authorable ==== Translations ==== === Anagrams === Hotaru == Latin == === Etymology === Late variant of auctor and autor under influence of descendants such as English author. === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈau̯.tʰɔr] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈaːu̯.tor] === Noun === author m (genitive authōris); third declension (New Latin, proscribed) alternative form of auctor: source, creator, vendor, author, artist ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun. === 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 alternative form of auctour