Where does “headmaster” come from?
Headmaster comes from English head and English mast, from French masse, from Latin massa meaning a lump or mass of material.
headmaster (English): A male school principal
Definitions
- A male school principal
Ancestry of “headmaster”, step by step
headmaster traces back through two 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 English head
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | head | The part of the body of an animal or human which... |
| 2 | English | -y | Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives... |
| 3 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 4 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |