temptator

English

Etymology

From Middle English temptatour, from Latin temptātor.

Noun

temptator (plural temptators)

1. (obsolete, rare) Synonym of tempter
   • [1540], Rycharde Tracy, transl., Of the Preparation to the Crosse, and to Deathe, and of the Comforte vnder the Crosse and Deathe, Two Bokes Very Fruictefull for Deuoute People to Rede, Translated from Latyn to Englysshe, [London]: [ […] Thomæ Bertheleti […]]:

     If the temptator ſaye, thou haſte not kepte the lawe of god, wherfore thou arte accurſed.

   • 1640, William Lithgow, The Totall Discourse, of the Rare Adventures, and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travailes from Scotland, to the Most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia, and Affrica. […], London: […] I. Okes, page 443:

     Firſt they be Imitators; next, Mutators; thirdly, Temptators; and lastly, your Plantators, in all the varieties of vanity.

   • 1641, John Roche, Moravian Heresy. Wherein the Principal Errors of That Doctrine, as Taught Throughout Several Parts of Europe and America, by Count Zinzendorf, Mr. Cennick, and Other Moravian Teachers, Are Fully Set Forth, Proved, and Refuted. […], Dublin: […] the Author, page 135:

     But Satan from the ſpecial Frailty of our Nature, is an overmatch for moſt Men, if the Aſſiſtance of divine Power, does not interpoſe: Tho’ in the ſpecial Compoſition of Man, he hath Abilities enough to confound this Temptator in his utmoſt Power and Subtlety, if duly exerted.

Latin

Verb

temptātor

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

References

• “temptator”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers