different between author vs authority

English

Alternative forms

• authour (obsolete)
• auctor (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English auctour, from Anglo-Norman autour, from Old French autor, from Latin auctor, from auge? (“to increase, originate”). The h, also found in English autheur, is unetymological as there is no h in the original Latin spelling. The OED attributes the h to contamination by authentic.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???.??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??.??/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /??.??/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /???.t??/
• Rhymes: -????(r)
• Hyphenation: au?thor

Noun

author (plural authors)

1. The originator or creator of a work, especially of a literary composition.
   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

   • 1755, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language Preface

     The chief glory of every people arises from its authors.

   1. (with definite article: "the author") I, me. used in academic articles instead of a first-person pronoun.
   • 1661, John Fell, The Life of the most learned, reverend and pious Dr. H. Hammond

     During the whole time of his abode in the university he generally spent thirteen hours of the day in study; by which assiduity besides an exact dispatch of the whole course of philosophy, he read over in a manner all classic authors that are extant […]

2. Someone who writes books for a living.
3. (obsolete, criminal law) Principal.
4. (obsolete) One's authority for something: an informant.
   • 1699, Seven new Colloquies translated out of Erasmus

     Let me inform you en passant, Ladies, that those Villains the Heathens, as my Authors tell me, (and I thought it wou'd^[sic] not be amiss to communicate such a nice Observation to this House) used to call our Saviour Chrestus, and not Christus, by way of Contempt and Derision […]

Synonyms

• (creator of a work): bookwright, creator, artist, subcreator, fabulator, writer

Derived terms

• authoress, authress
• author of life

Related terms

• authorization or authorisation
• authority
• authorship
• auteur

Translations

Verb

author (third-person singular simple present authors, present participle authoring, simple past and past participle authored)

1. (chiefly US, sometimes proscribed) To create a work as its author.

Derived terms

• authorable

Translations

Anagrams

• Hotaru

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?au?.t?or/, [?äu?t???r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?au?.tor/, [???u?t??r]

Noun

author m (genitive auth?ris); third declension

1. (proscribed) Alternative form of auctor

Declension

Third-declension noun.

References

• author in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  auctor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• auctor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette, page 184f.

Middle English

Noun

author

1. Alternative form of auctour

English

Alternative forms

• authourity, authoritie, autority, auctoritie (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English auctorite, autorite (“authority, book or quotation that settles an argument”), from Old French auctorité, from Latin stem of auct?rit?s (“invention, advice, opinion, influence, command”), from auctor (“master, leader, author”). For the presence of the h, compare the etymology of author.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???????ti/, /???????ti/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??????ti/, /??????ti/
• (obsolete) IPA^(key): /???t???ti/
• Hyphenation: au?thor?i?ty
• Rhymes: -???ti

Noun

authority (countable and uncountable, plural authorities)

1. (uncountable) The power to enforce rules or give orders.
   • 1883, Howard Pyle, The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood Chapter V

     But in the meantime Robin Hood and his band lived quietly in Sherwood Forest, without showing their faces abroad, for Robin knew that it would not be wise for him to be seen in the neighborhood of Nottingham, those in authority being very wroth with him.

2. (used in singular or plural form) Persons in command; specifically, government.
3. (countable) A person accepted as a source of reliable information on a subject.
   • 1930 September 18, Albert Einstein, as quoted in Albert Einstein: Creator and Rebel (1988) by Banesh Hoffman

     To punish me for my contempt of authority, Fate has made me an authority myself.

4. Government-owned agency which runs a revenue-generating activity.

   New York Port Authority

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• have something on good authority

References

• authority at OneLook Dictionary Search
• authority in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• authority in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.