Where does “paymaster” come from?
Paymaster derives from English pay and English mast, from French masse, from Latin massa meaning a lump or mass, blended with Latin -arius meaning one who.
paymaster (English): An official in charge of payments to employees,...
Definitions
- An official in charge of payments to employees,...
Ancestry of “paymaster”, step by step
paymaster 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 pay
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | pay | To give money or other compensation to in... |
| 2 | Middle English | payen | pagan |
| 3 | Old French | paiier | to pay |
| 4 | Medieval Latin | pacare | to settle, satisfy; present active infinitive of... |
| 5 | Latin | pācāre | — |
| 6 | Latin | pāx | peace |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | pāks | peace |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | péh₂ḱ-s | peace |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | peh₂ḱ- | to join, to attach; agreement, settlement |