Where does “signalmaster” come from?

signalmaster (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.

signalmaster (English): The supervisor of a signalman on a railway

Definitions

  1. The supervisor of a signalman on a railway

Ancestry of “signalmaster”, step by step

signalmaster traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English Master

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishMasterPrepended to a boy's name or surname as a form...
2EnglishMast
3Frenchmassea paste, a dough; large amount or quantity of...
4Old Frenchmacemace weapon
5Vulgar Latinmattia
6LatinmateolaThe meaning of this term is uncertain....
7Latin-ulusUsed to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating...
8Proto-Italic-olos
9Proto-Italic-elosForms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns
10Proto-Indo-European-e-lós
11Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

via English signal

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishsignalA sequence of states representing an encoded...
2Old Frenchsegnalemblem; badge; signature; distinguishing mark...
3Medieval Latinsignalesignal
4Latinsignālis
5Latinsignumvisible indication: sign, mark, signal; seal,...
6Proto-Italicseknomsign
7Proto-Indo-Europeansek-to cut, cut off, sever
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lósEvery word from Latin -ulusEvery word from Latin mateola