litterarius

Litterarius is a Latin term with meanings connected to letters and literature. As an adjective, litterarius describes things pertaining to letters, literature, or learning—roughly “literary” or “scholarly.” As a noun used in Latin texts, litterarius can denote a person skilled in letters—a scholar, writer, or man of letters. The word is built from littera, “letter,” with the suffix -arius forming adjectives and agent nouns.

In classical and late antique usage, litterarius appears mainly in contexts about education and literary culture. It is encountered more often as an adjective than as a standalone noun; when a noun sense is intended, authors sometimes use litteratus for “learned” or “educated,” or employ other terms for a writer or scholar. In later Latin, as in many European languages, the related concept persisted and influenced the term littérateur in French and its English cognate, literateur or literary man, meaning a professional writer or literary critic.

Today, litterarius is primarily of interest to scholars studying Latin vocabulary and the history of the idea of the “man of letters.” The root litter- survives in modern terms such as literature and literary, reflecting the long association between letters and learned culture.