Editing Lictor (section)

==Origin==
The lictors are said in the ancient antiquarian sources to go back to the [[regal period]]. There are two main traditions. The first is from [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]]. He claimed that Etruscan envoys numbering twelve (one for each Etruscan city) gifted the king [[Lucius Tarquinius Priscus]] [[fasces]] – symbolising military leadership of the twelve Etruscan communities – on his accession. With the approval of the [[Roman Senate|Senate]], Tarquin then appointed twelve lictors to attend to him when exercising military and civil authority.{{sfn|Brennan|2023|p=11}} The second is in Livy, which attributes the first lictors to the king [[Romulus]]. Livy also sides with an Etruscan origin, dismissing the variant story that Romulus appointed one lictor for each of the twelve birds that appeared to him in [[augury]] at the [[Founding of Rome|foundation of the city]].{{sfn|Brennan|2023|p=12}}

The word {{lang|la|lictor}} likely originates from their role in [[corporal punishment]], where a victim is bound ({{langx|la|ligare}}) for punishment. Ancient sources also offer two other possibilities: from the belt or apron ({{lang|la|licium}} and {{lang|la|limus}}, respectively) that they wore or, less plausibly, via borrowing from a supposed Greek cognate. Modern scholars have also suggested the possibility of derivation from {{lang|la|licere}} ("to allow").{{sfn|Brennan|2023|p=13, noting that the derivation from {{lang|la|ligare}} – see Gellius, ''Noctes Atticae'', 12.3 – is most plausible}}