Expert: Maria - 10/21/2005

Question
Hi there....out of curiosity, would you happen to know how to say/spell/write..."fighter" in latin.
I am looking for the oldest form of latin there is out there...or that i can get a hold of. I appreciate ANY help i can get. Thanks so much.
-Sheena

Answer
Hello,

here are three translations of “fighter”:

1-“Bellator”

2-“Pugnator”

3-“Proeliator”

It seems that the oldest noun is “Bellator” which appears in Plautus (comedy writer,3rd–2nd century BC), i.e. in the earliest Latin literature,  but in Livy too(around 59 BC - 17 AD), a historian who uses Classical Latin which represents the peak of quality of Latin literature.


Have a nice day.
Maria
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NOTA BENE
1-Please note that all three Latin  nouns are in the nominative case.
In fact, while in English the nouns have no grammatical inflections, Latin is an inflectional language where the nouns have  six cases and five declensions .
So, all the above translations are  in the nominative singular  as there is no phrase where these nouns must be put.

2- Latin language dates back to 8th or 7th century BC, but of that period only fragments are extant.