Where does “spin doctor” come from?
spin doctor (English) comes 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, from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s.
spin doctor (English): A person employed to gloss over a poor public...
Definitions
- A person employed to gloss over a poor public...
Ancestry of “spin doctor”, step by step
spin doctor traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English doctor
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | doctor | A physician; a member of the medical profession;... |
| 2 | Middle English | doctour | doctor |
| 3 | Anglo-Norman | doctour | Alternative spelling of doctur |
| 4 | Latin | doctor | teacher, instructor; catechist |
| 5 | Latin | -tor | -er |
| 6 | Proto-Italic | -tōr | Forms agent nouns to verb stems |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -tōr | Derives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone... |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | -tor-s | — |
via English spin
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | spin | To rotate, revolve, gyrate (usually quickly); to partially or completely rotate to face another direction |
| 2 | Middle English | spinnen | To spin or convert fibre into yarn; To make... |
| 3 | Old English | spinnan | to spin |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | spinnaną | to spin |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)pénh₁-ne- | — |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)penh₁- | to twist; to weave |