arbiter elegantiarum

English

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin arbiter (“judge”, noun) + Latin ēlegantiārum (“of elegance”, noun form) (genitive plural of ēlegantia); originally applied to Petronius in the court of Nero.

Noun

arbiter elegantiarum (uncountable)

1. An authority on manners or etiquette.
   • 1779, Samuel Johnson, Lives of the English Poets:

     We had many books to teach us our more important duties, and to settle opinions in philosophy or politicks ; but an Arbiter Elegantiarum, a judge of propriety, was yet wanting, who should survey the track of daily conversation, and free it from thorns and prickles, which teaze the passer, though they do not wound him.

   • 1890, Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Vintage, published 2007, page 114:

     in his inmost heart he desired to be something more than a mere arbiter elegantiarum, to be consulted on the wearing of a jewel, or the knotting of a necktie, or the conduct of a cane.

   • 2004, James T. Monroe, Hispano-Arabic Poetry, page 7:

     Modernism had been brought from the court of Hārūn ar-Rashīd by Ziryāb, the Persian singer who became an arbiter elegantiarum in the provincial capital of al-Andalus.

Translations

authority on manners or etiquette

• Finnish: makutuomari (fi)
• Latin: arbiter ēlegantiārum m
• Polish: arbiter elegantiarum m pers
• Portuguese: árbitro da elegância m
• Tamil: சுவை நயத்தீர்ப்பாளர் (cuvai nayattīrppāḷar)

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈar.bi.ter eː.le.ɡan.tiˈaː.rum/, [ˈärbɪt̪ɛr eːɫ̪ɛɡän̪t̪iˈäːrʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈar.bi.ter e.le.ɡan.t͡siˈa.rum/, [ˈärbit̪er eleɡänt̪͡s̪iˈäːrum]
• Hyphenation: ar‧bi‧ter ē‧le‧ɡan‧ti‧ā‧rum

Noun

arbiter ēlegantiārum m (genitive arbitrī ēlegantiārum); second declension

1. arbiter elegantiarum (authority on manners or etiquette)

Declension

Second-declension noun (nominative singular in -er) with an indeclinable portion.

	singular	plural
nominative	arbiter ēlegantiārum	arbitrī ēlegantiārum
genitive	arbitrī ēlegantiārum	arbitrōrum ēlegantiārum
dative	arbitrō ēlegantiārum	arbitrīs ēlegantiārum
accusative	arbitrum ēlegantiārum	arbitrōs ēlegantiārum
ablative	arbitrō ēlegantiārum	arbitrīs ēlegantiārum
vocative	arbiter ēlegantiārum	arbitrī ēlegantiārum

Polish

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin arbiter ēlegantiārum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /arˈbi.tɛr ɛ.lɛ.ɡanˈtja.rum/
• Syllabification: ar‧bi‧ter e‧le‧gan‧tia‧rum

Noun

arbiter elegantiarum m pers

1. arbiter elegantiarum (authority on manners or etiquette)

Declension

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• arbiter elegantiarum in Polish dictionaries at PWN