Where does “subpostmaster” come from?

subpostmaster (English) comes from English postmaster, from English Master, from English Mast, from French masse, from Old French mace, from Vulgar Latin mattia, from Latin mateola, from Latin -ulus — Forms agent nouns from verbal roots.

subpostmaster (English): A subordinate postmaster

Definitions

  1. A subordinate postmaster

Ancestry of “subpostmaster”, step by step

subpostmaster traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English postmaster

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishpostmasterThe head of a post office; The administrator of...
2EnglishMasterPrepended to a boy's name or surname as a form...
3EnglishMast—
4Frenchmassea paste, a dough; large amount or quantity of...
5Old Frenchmacemace weapon
6Vulgar Latinmattia—
7LatinmateolaThe meaning of this term is uncertain....
8Latin-ulusUsed to form a diminutive of a noun, indicating...
9Proto-Italic-olos—
10Proto-Italic-elosForms desubstantival and deadjectival diminutive nouns
11Proto-Indo-European-e-lós—
12Proto-Indo-European-lósForms agent nouns from verbal roots

via English sub

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishsubA submarine; A submarine sandwich: a sandwich...
2EnglishsubstituteTo use in place of something else, with the same...
3Middle Englishsubstituten—
4Latinsubstitutussubstituted
5LatinsubstituoI place next to, under, or instead of; I...
6LatinstatuoI set up, station; I establish, determine, fix; I...
7Latinstātusfixed, set, having been set
8Latinstōto stand
9Proto-Italicstaēōstand
10Proto-Indo-Europeansth₂éh₁yetito stand
11Proto-Indo-European*steh₂-—
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -lós →Every word from Latin -ulus →Every word from Latin mateola →