actrix

English

Etymology

From Latin āctrīx (“female plaintiff”). Doublet of actrice.

Noun

actrix (plural not attested) (rare, chiefly law)

1. A female plaintiff.
   • 1918, Documents Relating to the Colonial, Revolutionary and Post-revolutionary History of the State of New Jersey, volume 30, page 469:

     Wife Elizabeth, whole estate, including gold, silver, jewels, etc., and to be executrix and “universal actrix,” to bring up the children until they will be fit for trades.

   • 1935, John Joseph Manning, Presumptions of Law in Marriage Cases, page 75:

     Thirdly, the actrix in her own testimony did not so much allege ignorance but rather showed that she abhorred the notion of sexual relations and had a positive will opposed to its fulfillment.

   • 2000, Frederik Pedersen, Marriage disputes in medieval England, →ISBN, page 22:

     Compare Marrays c. Rowcliff where the annotator has written the age of the actrix in the margin every time a witness answered the question about her age, […]

Related terms

• actress

Latin

Etymology

From āctus +‎ -trīx, from agō (“do, act”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈaːk.triːks/, [ˈäːkt̪riːks̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈak.triks/, [ˈäkt̪riks]

Noun

āctrīx f (genitive āctrīcis, masculine āctor); third declension

1. doer (female)
2. actress, actor (female) (person who performs in a theatrical play or movie)
3. plaintiff (female)
4. stewardess, steward (female)

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	āctrīx	āctrīcēs
Genitive	āctrīcis	āctrīcum
Dative	āctrīcī	āctrīcibus
Accusative	āctrīcem	āctrīcēs
Ablative	āctrīce	āctrīcibus
Vocative	āctrīx	āctrīcēs

Related terms

• āctīvus
• āctor

Descendants

• Asturian: actriz
• → Catalan: actriu
• → English: actrix
• Galician: actriz
• Italian: attrice
• → Middle French: actrice
  • French: actrice
    • → Bulgarian: актри́са (aktrísa)
    • → Dutch: actrice
    • → English: actrice
    • → Norman: actrice
    • → Ottoman Turkish: آقتریس (aktris)
      • Turkish: aktris
    • → Russian: актри́са (aktrísa)
      • → Azerbaijani: aktrisa
      • → Uzbek: aktrisa
      • → Yiddish: אַקטריסע (aktrise)
    • → Swedish: aktris
    • → Ukrainian: актри́са (aktrýsa)
• Portuguese: atriz
• → Spanish: actriz

References

• “actrix”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• actrix in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• actrix in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.