Where does “spindoctor” come from?
spindoctor (Dutch) comes from English spin doctor, from English doctor, from Middle English doctour, from Anglo-Norman doctour, from Latin doctor, from Latin -tor, from Proto-Italic -tōr, from Proto-Indo-European -tōr.
spindoctor (Dutch): spin doctor
Ancestry of “spindoctor”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | spin doctor | A person employed to gloss over a poor public... |
| 2 | English | doctor | A physician; a member of the medical profession;... |
| 3 | Middle English | doctour | doctor |
| 4 | Anglo-Norman | doctour | Alternative spelling of doctur |
| 5 | Latin | doctor | teacher, instructor; catechist |
| 6 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |