commentatrix

English

Noun

commentatrix (plural not attested)

1. female equivalent of commentator
   • 1748, a Lady, in a Letter to her Friend in the Country, A Free Comment on the Late Mr. W—g—n’s Apology for His Conduct; Which Clears Up the Obscurities of That Celebrated Posthumous Work, and Dissipates the Clouds in Which the Author Has Thought Proper to Envelope His Meaning, London: […] W. Webb, pages 14–15:

     Well! Having thus luckily got rid of one, to whose Strength or Truth I was on the Verge of yielding, I return to my Office of Commentatrix. You muſt know, Dear Harriot, that this laſt crabbed Word ſticks in my Throat. I am not ſure that the Word Commentator may be changed like Executor; and I dare not ask for fear of betraying myſelf. I hope D—ds—y will look to theſe literal Errors, he being the only one of the Trade I can venture to truſt.

   • 1821, “The Life of Voltaire, with interesting Particulars respecting his Death, and Anecdotes and Characters of his Contemporaries. By Frank Hall Standish, Esq. 8vo. pp. 393. Andrews. London, 1821.”, in The British Review, and London Critical Journal, volume XVII, London: […] Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, […]; and J. Hatchard and Son, […], page 89:

     No woman, however, united the power of pursuing dissipation and study at the same time, with so much success; and beholders saw with astonishment the commentatrix of Newton, after leaving a card-table, instruct, and converse with the learned and the gay.

   • 1863, [Matilda Charlotte Houstoun], Hazel Combe; or, The Golden Rule, volume II, London: Tinsley Brothers, page 31:

     That aged commentatrix on lovers’ claims was more than purblind—and yet the young girl felt confused as she attempted to divert Dame Hickson’s notice from herself.

   • 1871, Bombay High Court Report. Reports of Cases Decided in the High Court of Bombay., volume VII, Bombay: […] the Education Society’s Press, Byculla, pages 169 and vi:

     “[…] Her commentary is generally considered as a performance highly creditable to the female intellect, but as showing a good deal the author’s intellectual petticoats.” We may add that she frequently betrays too strong a bias in favour of the claims of her own sex. Some further information as to this commentatrix is to be found at page 359 of Messrs. West and Bühler’s work, Bk. I. […] The passage, when purged of the interpolations obtained from the commentatrix Bálambhaṭṭa, runs thus: […]

   • 1937 October 17, The Hammond Times, volume XXXII, number 102, Hammond, Ind., page thirteen:

     COMMENTATRIX / Miss Thompson has a way with her words and wits, which is surely if slowly catching on with the more cogitatious of listeners. Cigaret-sponsored, Miss Thompson (really Mrs. Sinclair Lewis) is heard each Friday at 9:45 WMAQ.

   • 1947 May 1, “Mt. Hood Sports Style Show Will Feature Rubber-Bottom Ski Suit”, in Albany Democrat-Herald, volume LXXIX, number 179, page 4:

     Vyvyan Donner, Fox Movietone newsreel commentatrix who follows the horserace shots, which follow the political speech shots, which follow the disaster scenes, will do the announcing of the lavish spectacle for Movietone.

   • 1956 June 3, “Alastair Forbes Surveys the World Political Scene”, in Sunday Dispatch, 155th year, number 8,061, page 8:

     “If M.P.s,” declared the new political commentatrix, “can’t find anything else except Debbery for question time, then the nation is in a bad way.”

   • 1994 August 7, “Gerald Kaufman deplores those who will sink to anything to make great art more ‘accessible’”, in The Sunday Telegraph, number 1,731, page 29:

     If Dr Anderson is a high priest of access, then Ms Wheen, itinerant commentatrix of the arts, is, if not exactly a high priestess, a pretty high-up vestal virgin.

   • 1995 June 18, “Erskine-Crum’s welcome: Paul Haigh takes a light-hearted look forward to that great British institution, the Royal Ascot meeting”, in The Sunday Telegraph, number 1,775, sport section, page 13:

     Fashion will, of course, be a crucial ingredient, with “stunning” once again going off even-money favourite as the adjective most likely to be over-used by the BBC’s chosen commentatrix.

   • 2001 December 31, Mark Steyn, “The secret of my columnar success”, in National Post, volume 4, number 54, page A14:

     Ever since, I’ve been barraged by counter-claims: Internet pundit Jeff Jarvis says it’s his idea; the leggy lovely commentatrix Ann Coulter, of Politically Incorrect, CNN et al. mentioned it in a November column;

   • 2002, The Spectator:

     Last October, urging Congress to get tough on the obvious suspects, the leggy blonde commentatrix Coulter declared, ‘Americans aren’t going to die for political correctness.’ They already have.

   • 2002 April 25, Mark Steyn, “The Eurosnots learn nothing”, in National Post, volume 4, number 152, page A22:

     The best response to this line of thinking was by the shrewd Internet commentatrix Megan McArdle: “They’re completely missing the point, which is that it’s hilarious.”

   • 2007, Jack Huberman, The GOP-Hater’s Handbook: 378 Reasons Never to Vote for the Party of Reagan, Nixon and Bush Again, Nation Books, →ISBN, page 2:

     For as commentatrix Ann Coulter said—in touch, as always, with her inner terrorist and fearlessly voicing all conservatives’ guilty thoughts: […]

Synonyms

• commentatress

Latin

Etymology

commentor +‎ -trīx

Noun

commentātrīx f (genitive commentātrīcis); third declension

1. (Late Latin) female equivalent of commentātor (“inventor, author”)
   • c. 5th century, Arnobius the Younger, Liber ad Gregoriam 17:

     Dic mihi, huius sententiae commentatrix, quid est tam simplex, quam ut domini tui ad te litteras destinatas agnoscas, sicut a te missas ad seruos?

     Tell me, you author of this sentence, what can be simpler than recognising the letters addressed to you by your lord, just like the ones you send to your servants?

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	commentātrīx	commentātrīcēs
Genitive	commentātrīcis	commentātrīcum
Dative	commentātrīcī	commentātrīcibus
Accusative	commentātrīcem	commentātrīcēs
Ablative	commentātrīce	commentātrīcibus
Vocative	commentātrīx	commentātrīcēs

Coordinate terms

• commentātor

References

• Souter, Alexander (1949) “commentatrix”, in A Glossary of Later Latin to 600 A.D.‎^[1], 1st edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, published 1957, page 62