author

See also: 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.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɔː.θə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɔ.θɚ/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˈɑ.θɚ/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /ˈɒː.təɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔːθə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: au‧thor

Noun

author (plural authors)

1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition.

   The copyright of any original writing belongs initially and properly to its author.

   Have you read any Corinthian authors?

   • 1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     Eternal King; thee, Author of all being.

   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎^[1]:

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

   • 1755, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language, Preface:

     The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.

   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond‎^[2]:

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

2. Someone who writes books for a living.
3. (obsolete, criminal law) Principal; the primary participant in a crime.
   • 1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 10, page 158:

     We hear […] of fratricidal murders, and stern reprisals on their authors.

   • 1894, Franco-Siamese Mixed Court, The Case of Kieng Chek (Kham Muon) before the Franco-Siamese Mixed Court‎^[3], Bangkok: n.p., page 4:

     Accomplices of a crime or an offence shall incur the same punishment as the authors of such a crime or offence, except when the law will have disposed otherwise.

4. (obsolete) One's authority for something: an informant.
   • 1699, Seven new Colloquies translated out of Erasmus:

     Let me inform you en passant, Ladies, that those Villains the Heathens, as my Authors tell me, (and I thought it wou'd^[sic] not be amiss to communicate such a nice Observation to this House) used to call our Saviour Chrestus, and not Christus, by way of Contempt and Derision […]

Synonyms

• (creator of a work): bookwright, creator, artist, subcreator, fabulator, writer

Derived terms

• authoress, authress
• author mill
• author of life
• co-author
• corresponding author
• death of the author

 

Related terms

• auteur
• authority
• authorization or authorisation
• authorship

 

Translations

originator or creator of a work

• Albanian: autor (sq) m, autore (sq) f
• Arabic: مُؤَلِّف‎ m (muʔallif), مُصَنِّف‎ m (muṣannif)
• Aragonese: autor m, autora f
• Armenian: հեղինակ (hy) (heġinak)
• Asturian: autor m
• Azerbaijani: müəllif (az), avtor
• Basque: egile (eu)
• Belarusian: а́ўтар m (áŭtar), а́ўтарка f (áŭtarka)
• Bengali: লেখক (bn) (lekhok), স্রষ্টা (bn) (srośṭa)
• Breton: aozer
• Bulgarian: а́втор (bg) m (ávtor), а́вторка f (ávtorka), творе́ц (bg) m (tvoréc)
• Burmese: စာရေးဆရာ (my) (care:hca.ra)
• Catalan: autor (ca) m, autora (ca) f
• Chechen: яздархо (jazdarxo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 作家 (zh) (zuòjiā), 作者 (zh) (zuòzhě)

• Chukchi: тэйкыткуԓьын (tėjkytkuḷʹyn)
• Czech: autor (cs) m, autorka (cs) f
• Danish: forfatter (da) c
• Dutch: auteur (nl) m, schrijver (nl) m (especially literary), schrijfster (nl) f (especially literary)
• Esperanto: verkinto, aŭtoro
• Estonian: autor (et)
• Faroese: rithøvundur m, høvundur m
• Finnish: tekijä (fi), kirjoittaja (fi)
• French: auteur (fr) m, auteure (fr) f, autrice (fr) f
• Galician: autor (gl) m
• Georgian: ავტორი (avṭori)
• German: Autor (de) m, Autorin (de) f, Verfasser (de) m, Verfasserin (de) f, Schriftsteller (de) m, Schriftstellerin (de) f
• Greek: δημιουργός (el) c (dimiourgós)

  Ancient: ἀρχηγέτης m (arkhēgétēs)

• Gujarati: લેખક m (lekhak)
• Haitian Creole: otè
• Hebrew: סוֹפֵר‎ (he) m (sofér), מְחַבֵּר‎ (he) m (m'khabér), יוֹצֵר‎ (he) m (yotsér)
• Hindi: लेखक (hi) m (lekhak), लेखिका (hi) f (lekhikā), प्रणेता (hi) m (praṇetā)
• Hungarian: szerző (hu), kezdeményező (hu), alkotó (hu), létrehozó (hu), kiötlő (hu), kiagyaló (hu)
• Icelandic: höfundur (is) m, rithöfundur (is) m
• Indonesian: pengarang (id)
• Ingrian: tekijä, avtora
• Irish: údar m
• Italian: autore (it) m, autrice (it) f
• Japanese: 著者 (ja) (ちょしゃ, chosha), 作家 (ja) (さっか, sakka), 作者 (ja) (さくしゃ, sakusha), 作成者 (さくせいしゃ, sakuseisha), 筆者 (ja) (ひっしゃ, hissha)
• Kazakh: автор (kk) (avtor), жазушы (kk) (jazuşy)
• Khmer: គន្ថការ (kŭənthaʼkaa)
• Korean: 저자(著者) (ko) (jeoja), 작가(作家) (ko) (jakga), 글쓴이 (geulsseuni), 지은이 (jieuni), 작자(作者) (ko) (jakja), 필자(筆者) (ko) (pilja)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: daner (ku)

• Kyrgyz: автор (ky) (avtor), жазуучу (ky) (jazuuçu)
• Lao: ນັກປະພັນ (nak pa phan)
• Latin: auctor (la) m; repertor m (figurative)
• Latvian: autors m, autore f
• Lithuanian: autorius m, autorė f
• Luxembourgish: Auteur m
• Macedonian: автор m (avtor), авторка f (avtorka)
• Marathi: लेखक m (lekhak), लेखिका f (lekhikā)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: зохиолч (mn) (zoxiolč), зохиогч (mn) (zoxiogč)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: forfatter (no) m

  Nynorsk: forfattar m

• Occitan: autor (oc) m
• Persian: پدیدآورنده‎ (padid-âvarande), مؤلف‎ (fa) (mo'allef)
• Plautdietsch: Schreftstala m
• Polish: autor (pl) m, autorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: autor (pt) m
• Romanian: autor (ro) m, autoare (ro) f
• Russian: а́втор (ru) m (ávtor), созда́тель (ru) m (sozdátelʹ), творе́ц (ru) m (tvoréc)
• Scottish Gaelic: ùghdar m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀утор m, а̀уторица f

  Roman: àutor (sh) m, àutorica (sh) f

• Slovak: autor (sk) m, autorka (sk) f
• Slovene: avtor m, avtorica f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: awtor m, awtorka f

• Spanish: autor (es) m, autora (es) f, escritor (es) m, escritora (es) f
• Swahili: mwandishi (sw)
• Swedish: författare (sv) c (literature), upphovsman (sv) c
• Tajik: муаллиф (muallif), мусанниф (musannif), нависанда (tg) (navisanda)
• Tamil: படைப்பாளர் (paṭaippāḷar), நூலாசிரியர் (ta) (nūlāciriyar)
• Telugu: రచయిత (te) m (racayita), రచయిత్రి f (racayitri), కర్త (te) (karta), గ్రంథకర్త (granthakarta), గ్రంథకారుడు (granthakāruḍu)
• Thai: ผู้เขียน (pûu-kǐian), นักประพันธ์ (nák-bprà-pan)
• Turkish: yazar (tr), müellif (tr)
• Turkmen: awtor (tk), ýazyjy
• Ukrainian: а́втор (uk) m (ávtor), а́вторка (uk) f (ávtorka)
• Uyghur: ئاپتور‎ (aptor), مۇئەللىپ‎ (mu'ellip), ئاساسچى‎ (asaschi)
• Uzbek: muallif (uz), avtor (uz), yozuvchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: tác giả (vi)
• Volapük: lautan (vo)
• Welsh: awdur (cy) m, awdures (cy) f
• Yiddish: מחבר‎ m (mekhaber), מעכאַבער‎ m (mekhaber), שרײַבער‎ m (shrayber), אויטאָר‎ m (oytor), פֿאַרפֿאַסער‎ m (farfaser), שריפֿטשטעלער‎ m (shriftshteler), וואָרטקינסטלער‎ m (vortkinstler), ליטעראַט‎ m (literat), פֿעדערניק‎ m (federnik)
• Zazaki: nuskar, nusger
• Zhuang: bouxsij

a female author

• Hungarian: szerzőnő

writer — see writer

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} autor (sq) m, ^{(please verify)} autore (sq) f
• Central Kurdish: ^{(please verify)} نوسەر‎ (nuser)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} aŭtoro
• Ewe: ^{(please verify)} nuŋlɔla
• Maltese: ^{(please verify)} awtur m, ^{(please verify)} awtriċi f, ^{(please verify)} kittieb m, ^{(please verify)} kittieba f
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} రచయిత (te) m (racayita), ^{(please verify)} రచయిత్రి f (racayitri)

Verb

author (third-person singular simple present authors, present participle authoring, simple past and past participle authored)

1. (chiefly US, sometimes proscribed) To create a work as its author.

Derived terms

• authorable

Translations

to create a work as its author

• Arabic: أَلَّفَ‎ (ar) (ʔallafa)
• Bulgarian: творя (bg) (tvorja), създавам (bg) (sǎzdavam)
• Danish: forfatte (da)
• Dutch: schrijven (nl)
• Esperanto: aŭtori, verki
• Finnish: luoda (fi), tehdä (fi), kirjoittaa (fi)
• French: écrire (fr), créer (fr)
• Greek: συγγράφω (el) (syngráfo)
• Hungarian: ír (hu), alkot (hu), szerez (hu), kezdeményez (hu), szerzője
• Ido: skriptar (io)
• Italian: creare (it)
• Japanese: 著す (ja) (arawasu)
• Romanian: crea (ro), scrie (ro)
• Slovak: vytvoriť, napísať, tvoriť, písať (sk)
• Spanish: escribir (es)
• Swedish: författa (sv)
• Welsh: awduro

Anagrams

• Hotaru

Latin

Etymology

Late variant of auctor and author under influence of descendants such as English author.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯.tʰor/, [ˈäu̯t̪ʰɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈau̯.tor/, [ˈäːu̯t̪or]

Noun

author m (genitive authōris); third declension

1. (New Latin, proscribed) Alternative form of auctor: source, creator, vendor, author, artist.

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	author	authōrēs
Genitive	authōris	authōrum
Dative	authōrī	authōribus
Accusative	authōrem	authōrēs
Ablative	authōre	authōribus
Vocative	author	authōrēs

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

1. Alternative form of auctour