|
|
|
|
Orator
|
| |
|
| |
An orator, or oratist, is a (public) speaker.
An orator may also be called an oratarian - literally, "he who orates".
s recorded in English since c.1374, meaning "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French oratour, Old French orateur (14th century), Latin orator ("speaker"), from orare ("speak before a court or assembly; plead"), derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *or- ("to pronounce a ritual formula").
The modern meaning of the word, "public speaker", is attested from c.1430.
ncient Rome, the art of speaking in public (Ars Oratoria) was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Orator' Start a new discussion about 'Orator' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
An orator, or oratist, is a (public) speaker.
An orator may also be called an oratarian - literally, "he who orates".
Etymology
It is recorded in English since c.1374, meaning "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French oratour, Old French orateur (14th century), Latin orator ("speaker"), from orare ("speak before a court or assembly; plead"), derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *or- ("to pronounce a ritual formula").
The modern meaning of the word, "public speaker", is attested from c.1430.
History
In ancient Rome, the art of speaking in public (Ars Oratoria) was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers. As the Greeks were still seen as the masters in this field, as in philosophy and most sciences, the leading Roman families often either sent their sons to study these things under a famous master in Greece (as was the case with the young Julius Caesar), or engaged a Greek teacher (under pay or as a slave).
In the young revolutionary French republic, Orateur (French for "orator", but compare the Anglo-Saxon parliamentary speaker) was the formal title for the delegated members of the Tribunat to the Corps législatif, to motivate their ruling on a presented bill.
In the 19th century, orators and lecturers, such as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, and Col. Robert G. Ingersoll were major providers of popular entertainment.
In some universities, the title 'Orator' is given to the official whose task it is to give speeches on ceremonial occasions, such as the presentation of honorary degrees.
Pulpit orator
This term denotes Christian authors, often clergymen, renowned for their ability to write and/or deliver (from the pulpit in church, hence the word) rhetorically skilled religious sermons.
Examples are:
Other famous orators
Ancient and medieval orators
- Perikles, Athenian statesman
- Aspasia, Pericles' spouse
- The ten Attic orators (Greece)
- Aristogeiton
- Julius Caesar, Roman dictator
- Claudius Aelianus, meliglossos, 'honey-tongued'
- Decimus Magnus Ausonius
- Cicero
- Domitius Afer
- Eumenius
- Francesco Petrarch, father of humanism
- Gaius Scribonius Curio
- Hegesippus, Athenian
- Hermagoras of Temnos, Rhodian school
- Cato the Elder, Roman calling for the final Punic war
- Licinius Macer Calvus, Roman poet and orator
- Marcus Antonius Orator, Roman
- Marcus Licinius Crassus, Roman
- Nazarius
- Paul of Tarsos, thirteenth apostle
- Peter the Hermit, calling for the First Crusade
- Quintus Hortensius
- Marcus Fabius Quintilianus
- Seneca the Rhetorician, father of Nero's better-known teacher
Modern orators
Though most politicians (by nature of their office) may perform many speeches, as do those who support or oppose a political issue, to include them all would be prohibitive. The following are those who have been noted as famous specifically for their oratory abilities, and/or for a particularly famous speech or speeches.
Inaugural Address, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Sources and references
(incomplete)
- Catholic Encyclopaedia (passim)
- 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica (passim)
- African American Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, edited by Richard W. Leeman, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. ISBN 0313290148
See also
|
| |
|
|
