Orator
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An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled.


Etymology

Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th century), Latin ''orator'' ("speaker"), from ''orare'' ("speak before a court or assembly; plead"), derived from a Proto-Indo-European base *''or-'' ("to pronounce a ritual formula"). The modern meaning of the word, "public speaker", is attested from c. 1430.


History

In ancient
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, the art of speaking in public (''Ars Oratoria'') was a professional competence especially cultivated by politicians and lawyers. As the Greeks were still seen as the masters in this field, as in philosophy and most sciences, the leading Roman families often either sent their sons to study these subjects under a famous master in Greece (as was the case with the young Julius Caesar), or engaged a Greek teacher (under pay or as a slave). In the young revolutionary French Republic, ''Orateur'' (French for "orator") was the formal title for the delegated members of the Tribunat to the Corps législatif, similar to the role of a "Parliamentary Speaker," to motivate their ruling on a presented bill. In the 19th century, orators and historians and speakers such as Mark Twain,
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...
, and Col. Robert G. Ingersoll were major providers of popular entertainment. A ''pulpit orator'' is a Christian author, often a clergyman, renowned for their ability to write or deliver (from the pulpit in church, hence the word) rhetorically skilled religious sermons. In some
universities A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...
, the title 'Orator' is given to the official whose task it is to give speeches on ceremonial occasions, such as the presentation of honorary degrees.


Orators

The following is a list of those who have been noted as famous ''specifically'' for their oratory abilities, or for a particularly famous speech or speeches. Most religious leaders and politicians (by nature of their office) may give many speeches, as may those who support or oppose a particular issue. A list of all such leaders would be prohibitively long.


Classical era Classical antiquity, also known as the classical era, classical period, classical age, or simply antiquity, is the period of cultural European history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD comprising the interwoven civilization ...

*The ten Attic orators ( Greece) ** Demosthenes, champion of the Philippic ** Aeschines ** Andocides ** Antiphon ** Dinarchus ** Hypereides ** Lysias ** Isaeus ** Isocrates ** Lycurgus of Athens * Aristogeiton * Claudius Aelianus, ''meliglossos'', 'honey-tongued' * Cicero, Marcus Tullius * Corax of Syracuse * Gaius Scribonius Curio, '' praetor urbanus'' in
Roman Republic The Roman Republic ( ) was the era of Ancient Rome, classical Roman civilisation beginning with Overthrow of the Roman monarchy, the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom (traditionally dated to 509 BC) and ending in 27 BC with the establis ...
BC * Gorgias * Hegesippus, Athenian * Julius Caesar, Roman dictator * Licinius Macer Calvus, Roman poet and orator * Marcus Antonius (orator), Roman * Pericles, Athenian statesman * Quintilian * Quintus Hortensius * John Chrysostom (literally ''golden-mouthed''), Christian preacher


18th Century and later

* Allied leaders of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
: ** Winston Churchill ( British Prime Minister) ** Franklin D. Roosevelt ( US President) ** Charles de Gaulle ( Free French general; later President of France) ** Douglas MacArthur ( US General of the Army) - '' Farewell Speech to Congress'' ** Manuel L. Quezon ( Philippine President) * Axis leaders of World War II: ** Adolf Hitler ( Führer of
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
) ** Benito Mussolini ( Il Duce of Fascist Italy) ** Joseph Goebbels ( Nazi Propaganda Minister) * The U.S. 19th century Great Triumvirate: ** Henry Clay ** John C. Calhoun ** Daniel Webster *Independence and civil rights leaders ** Jawaharlal Nehru - '' Tryst with Destiny'' ** William Jennings Bryan - '' Cross of Gold speech'' ** Frederick Douglass - '' Self-Made Men'' ** Patrick Henry - '' Give me Liberty or give me Death!'' ** Martin Luther King Jr. - '' I Have A Dream'' ** Sojourner TruthAfrican American Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, edited by Richard W. Leeman, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. - '' Ain't I a Woman?'' ** Malcolm X - '' The Ballot or the Bullet'' ** Nelson Mandela - '' I Am Prepared to Die'' ** Sukarno - '' Indonesia Accuses'' * Presidents of the United States ** Abraham Lincoln - '' Gettysburg Address'' ** John F. Kennedy - '' Inaugural Address'' ** Richard M. Nixon - '' Checkers speech'' (while Vice President) ** Ronald Reagan - '' Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!'' ** Barack H. Obama - '' A More Perfect Union (speech)'' *
Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, minister, abolitionism, abolitionist, and poet who led the Transcendentalism, Transcendentalist movement of th ...
- '' The American Scholar'' *
Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...
- '' The lady's not for turning'' * Rufus Choate * Robert G. Ingersoll * John Neal, first American orator on
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...


Notes


References

*'' Catholic Encyclopaedia'' (''passim'') *1911 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (''passim'')
EtymologyOnLine
*African American Orators: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, edited by Richard W. Leeman, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996. *The Will of a People: A Critical Anthology of Great Speeches by African Americans, edited with critical introductions by Richard W. Leeman and Bernard K. Duffy, Southern Illinois University Press, 2012. , *American Orators of the Twentieth Century: Critical Studies and Sources, edited by Bernard K. Duffy and Halford R. Ryan, Greenwood, 1987. *American Orators Before 1900: Critical Studies and Sources, edited by Bernard K. Duffy and Halford R. Ryan, Greenwood, 1987. *American Voices: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Orators, edited by Bernard K. Duffy and Richard W. Leeman, Greewnood, 1987. *Women Public Speakers in the United States, 1800–1925: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, edited by Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, Greenwood, 1993. *American Voices, Significant Speeches in American History: 1640–1945, edited by James Andrews and David Zarefsky, Longman Publishing Group, 1989. *Contemporary American Voices: Significant Speeches in American History, 1945–Present, edited by James R. Andrews and David Zarefsky, Longman Publishing Group, 1991. *Contemporary American Public Discourse. 3rd Edition. edited by Halford Ross Ryan, Waveland Press, 1991. ,


External links


Voices of Democracy
{{Authority control Public speaking *List of orators it:Oratoria hu:Szónoki beszéd