Auctour

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for the writer or originator of a book, poem, or other literary work, used especially in medieval English
2. Old English usage meaning a person who composes a text or is credited with creating a written authority
3. A medieval word for the creator of a written work, someone whose writing carries recognized authority in its field

Etymology: Middle English spellings of "author" varied widely, and "auctour" was one of them. It came into English from Anglo-Norman "autour", which passed through Old French "autor" from Latin "auctor", meaning originator, promoter or guarantor. The Latin word itself comes from "augeō", "to increase", so an author was, at root, someone who made something grow or brought it into being. The "h" that later appeared in "author" has no basis in Latin. It was added in French and English spellings, and the Oxford English Dictionary attributes it to confusion with "authentic", which shares no true ancestry with the word. "Auctour" and "auteur" are doublets: two forms descended from the same Latin word, one entering English through Anglo-Norman and the other through French.

Synonyms: author, writer, creator, originator, composer