auctorial

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The Word of the Day for December 18 is:=20

auctorial   \awk-TOR-ee-ul\   adjective
          : of or relating to an author
=20

Example sentence:
          "The capacity to tell a plain tale is the greatest of the auct=
orial 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 "augere," meaning "t=
o promote" or "to increase." The word "auctor," which was also used for =
a person who creates something, passed through Anglo-French and Middle E=
nglish, eventually evolving (somewhat perplexingly) into the Modern Engl=
ish word "author." English writers dug up "auctor" again in the early 19=
th century to form the adjective "auctorial." The coinage was a somewhat=
 surprising one, given that the word "authorial" had been firmly establi=
shed in English for over a quarter of a century. Today, "authorial" is t=
he more common of the two words, but modern-day wordsmiths continue to p=
ut "auctorial" to use on occasion.





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