latimer

What it means

1. historicalSynonym of interpreter.

   […] royal and household latimers were so usual that he naturally provided Vortigern with one.

   1966, Constance Bullock-Davies, Professional interpreters and the matter of Britain

   2 more examples

   ... what if the woman cannot ſpeak any language that the judge doth underſtand, as Corniſh, Welſh, Dutch, or the like? then there ſhall be a Latimer, that is, an interpreter upon his oath to interpret truly ...

   1642, Edw[ard] Coke, The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, and R[obert] Young, for E[phraim] D[awson], R[ichard] M[eighen], W[illiam] L[ee] and D[aniel] P[akeman], →OCLC

   It is likely that Anglo-Norman formed a necessary element of Morris Regan's linguistic repertoire as a latimer […]

   2008, Neil Cartlidge, Boundaries in medieval romance, page 81

   Synonyms: interpreter

In a sentence

... what if the woman cannot ſpeak any language that the judge doth underſtand, as Corniſh, Welſh, Dutch, or the like? then there ſhall be a Latimer, that is, an interpreter upon his oath to interpret truly ...

1642, Edw[ard] Coke, The Second Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England. […], London: […] M[iles] Flesher, and R[obert] Young, for E[phraim] D[awson], R[ichard] M[eighen], W[illiam] L[ee] and D[aniel] P[akeman], →OCLC

Where it comes from

1. Latinlatinarius“interpreter, speaker of Latin”
2. Vulgar Latinlatimarus
3. Old Frenchlatimier
4. Englishlatimer

From Old French latimier, latinier (“interpreter”), etc. and directly from Vulgar Latin latimarus, from Latin latinarius (“interpreter, speaker of Latin”), from lingua Latina + -arius (“-ary”). Equivalent to Latin + -er and compare Latiner.