Where does “choirmaster” come from?
choirmaster (English) comes from English Master, from English Mast, from French masse, from Old French mace, from Vulgar Latin mattia, from Latin mateola, from Latin -ulus, from Proto-Italic -olos — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.
choirmaster (English): the musical director of a choir, who conducts...
Definitions
- the musical director of a choir, who conducts...
Ancestry of “choirmaster”, step by step
choirmaster traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.
via English Master
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | Master | Prepended to a boy's name or surname as a form... |
| 2 | English | Mast | — |
| 3 | French | masse | a paste, a dough; large amount or quantity of... |
| 4 | Old French | mace | mace weapon |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | mattia | — |
| 6 | Latin | mateola | The meaning of this term is uncertain.... |
| 7 | Latin | -ulus | Used to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating... |
| 8 | Proto-Italic | -olos | — |
| 9 | Proto-Italic | -elos | Forms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | -e-lós | — |
| 11 | Proto-Indo-European | -lós | Forms agent nouns from verbal roots |
via German Chormeister
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | Chormeister | choirmaster |
| 2 | German | meister | master |
| 3 | Middle High German | meister | master |
| 4 | Old High German | meistar | — |
| 5 | Vulgar Latin | maester | — |
| 6 | Latin | magister | teacher; master; a title of the Middle Ages,... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | magisteros | bigger, greater |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | méǵh₂isteros | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | méǵh₂s | big, great |