A Grammatical Dictionary of Botanical Latin

Auctor,-oris (s.m./f.III), abl.sg. auctore, nom.& acc. pl. auctores, gen.pl. auctorum: author, writer, lit. originator, defender of a thesis (not necessarily its actual author) in a public disputation; cf. C. Haeberlin in Zentralbl. Biblioth., 43: 174 (1926) (Stearn, 1983)[> L. auctor,-oris s.m./f. III) “he that brings about the existence of any object, or promotes the increase or prosperity of it, whether he first originates it, or by his efforts give greater permanence or continuance of it; creator, maker, author, inventor, producer, father, founder, teacher, composer, cause; syn. conditor, origo, consiliarius, lator, suasor, princeps, dux; (of persons, a progenitor, father, ancestor; originator ; an author of scientific or literary productions; an investigator; the author of a writing, a writer; one by whose influence, advice, command, etc., anything is done, the cause, occasion, contriver, instigator” (after Lewis & Short).

NOTE: see ‘recentiores’ (as noun and adj.) the moderns (said of authors, modern writers or authors (Lewis & Short).

NOTE: auct. (abbr.), q.v. = auctor,-oris (s.m./f.III).

- ab auctoribus, by, according to authors:

- Atragene ab auctoribus pluribus generice distincta (B&H), Atragene by [i.e. according to] many authors generically distinct.

- ex auctt., ex auctoribus, according to authors (Stearn).

- sec. auct. plur., secundum auctores plures, according to many authors (Stearn).

- editio Quinta ab auctore reformata et aucta (Linn.), the fifth edition revised by the author and enlarged.

- genus anomalum a pluribus auctoribus proordine distincto habitum (B&H),

an anomalous genus held by most authors for a distinct order.

- CUM TABULIS AENEIS AUCTORE OLAVO SWARTZ M. D., with [bronze] plates by the author Olav Swartz, M.D.

- apud auctores, in the writings of authors;

- species apud auctores descriptae ultra 1200, sed in generibus nonnullis miro modo variabiles et a botanicis multiplicata (B&H), species described in the writings of authors more than 1200, but variable in a remarkable way in some genera and multiplied by botanists.

- ATRAGENE, staminibus exterioribus in petala mutatis, ab auctoribus pluribus generice distincta (B&H), Atragene, by the outer stamens changed into petals,[is] by [i.e. according to] many authors generically distinct.

- CERATOCEPHALUS, species amplectens 7 ab auctoribus descriptas sed forte in unum conjungendas, olim generice distinguebatur acheniis rostrato-cornutis (B&H), embracing 7 species described by authors but perhaps should be united into one, once generically distinguished by the rostrate-horned achenia.

- Picria, ex auctoris descriptione et specimine valde manco in Herb. Mus. Brit. servato, est verisimiliter Curangae species, Picria, from the description of the author and a very imperfect specimen preserved in the Herb. Mus. Brit., is probably a species of Curanga.

- Genera Plantarum ad exemplaria imprimis in herbariis kewensibus servata definite auctoribus G. Bentham et J. D. Hooker (B&H), genera of plants defined according to specimens primarily preserved in the herbaria at Kew by the authors G. Bentham and J. D. Hooker.

- his aequo jure addenda videntur genera 6 polyandra ab auctoribus citatis proposita v. vindicata (B&H), to these [sc. genera] the 6 polyandrous genera by the authors cited seem with equal justification to be added, proposed or vindicated.

- Linnaeus primus nomenclature generum et specierum leges certas prescripsit; ergo, nomina sic dicta generica ante-Linneana, nec ab illo nec ab auctoribus posterioribus vindicata, omnino negleximus, et nomen genericum v. Linnaeo v. illi auctori tribuimus, a quo primum ad normam Linneanam adhibitum fuerit (B&H),

Linnaeus first set in writing definite laws for the nomenclature of genera and species; therefore, the pre-Linnean generic names so designated [that are] not endorsed either by him [i.e. Linnaeus] nor by later authors, we have completely done without [i.e. neglected], and we have ascribed the generic name either to Linnaeus or to that author, according to whom it may have been the first put in use following the Linnean ‘norm’ [i.e. standard, practice].