English Language & Usage Asked on April 19, 2021
An executor executes, a parser parses, readers read, etc.
Does a cursor curse? If not, what does it do?
Cursors offer no oaths of their own, minced or otherwise.
They simply run, as @ULTRACOMFY notes.
Etymonline offers the following etymology:
cursor (n.) c. 1300 (as a surname) "a running messenger," from Latin cursor "runner," also "errand-boy," from curs-, past-participle stem of currere "to run" (from PIE root *kers- "to run"). From 1590s as "part of aslide rule or other instrument that slides backward and forward upon another part." The computer screen sense is a 1967 extension of this.
Cursors are commonly said to move, though if you don't mind looking past the screen to the hand that conducts the scene, you can also say that one can position the cursor. For a less pedestrian term, consider the more alliterative cruising cursor.
Correct answer by Lawrence on April 19, 2021
"Cursor" comes from the latin cursor and means "runner". The more English term would be "Pointer", and a pointer points.
Answered by ULTRACOMFY on April 19, 2021
Though a cursor does not curse, a curser certainly does :)
A cursor is a symbol that functions as an indicator or identifying point on a computer screen. The cursor icon marks the point on the screen at which the user may interact with the computer screen...
Curser means someone who curses. It may refer to someone who is invoking a supernatural being in order to punish another person, but most often a curser is someone who uses offensive words in a fit of anger. Curser is also a common misspelling of the word cursor. Grammarist: Cursor vs curser
Answered by TwoBob on April 19, 2021
Actually a cursor (of the type the poster had in mind) does nothing — it is only done to. The person controlling it is the one doing the doing.
Compare with a spoon. A spoon doesn’t spoon, but is used to spoon (not in the silvery moon sense).
Answered by David on April 19, 2021
“Cursor” is not built on any English verb. Latin had an agent noun suffix -tor/-sor. Some nouns with this suffix that were taken into English currently exist alongside verbs with a similar form, but not all. Compare:
As Lawrence and ULTRACOMFY said, cursor was built on a Latin verb meaning “run”.
There are English verbs that came through various paths from this verb, such as recur, occur, recurse, course.
Answered by herisson on April 19, 2021
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