computator

English

Noun

computator (plural computators)

1. (archaic) A person who performs computations.
   • 1759, [Laurence Sterne], chapter XXIII, in The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, 2nd (1st London) edition, volume I, London: […] R[obert] and J[ames] Dodsley […], published 1760, →OCLC:

     But this is an advantage not to be had by the biographer in this planet;—in the planet Mercury (belike) it may be so, if not better still for him;——for there the intense heat of the country, which is proved by computators, from its vicinity to the sun, to be more than equal to that of red-hot iron, […]

2. (archaic) A mechanical device that performs computation.
3. (humorous) Synonym of computer (“electronic device”). (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Interlingua

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish computador, Portuguese computador. Equivalent to computar +‎ -tor.

Noun

computator (plural computatores)

1. computer

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kɔm.pʊˈtaː.tɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kom.puˈtaː.tor]

Verb

computātor

1. second/third-person singular future passive imperative of computō

References

• “computator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “computator”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.