mægester

Forms

mǣġester m^[1] Also māġister, magister, mǣġster and mǣster.^[1][2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin magister (“master, chief, teacher”).^[1][2][4] Durkin counts it among the Latin words borrowed early, before about 650, and notes the later form māġister, also written as in Latin, which stands closer to the Latin noun.^[5][2][6] Hogg puts it among the loans whose vowel shows i-umlaut of the Latin ⟨a⟩, and explains such words as borrowed between first fronting and i-umlaut.^[7]

The Latin noun is formed from magis (“more”) with the comparative suffix seen in minister.^[8][9] Köbler traces the Latin adverb to Proto-Indo-European *meǵh₂- (“great”).^[4] The other Germanic languages borrowed the Latin word too: Old Norse meistari, Old Frisian māstere, Old Saxon mēster and Old High German meistar.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first dated record is in the Pastoral Care, in the manuscript of 890×897, with the later spelling: hit is niedðearf ðæt mon his hlaford ondræde, & se cneoht his magister “it is needful that a man fear his lord, and the boy his master”.^[10][11][12]

Semantic evolution

Toller sorts the senses as a director, chief or ruler, as in the weorca mægestras “masters of the works” of Exodus for Latin “magistros operum”; a master as against a servant; the owner or tamer of an animal, as the tame lioness that loves her magister in the Boethius; a teacher; and the master whose disciple one is, as in mín mægister Euripides in the Boethius.^[12] In the Pastoral Care it stands beside lareow for a teacher.^[12]

The word Middle English maister had two sources, Old French maistre and the Old English noun, and its form followed the French word; it is now English master.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 890×897 – se cneoht his magister in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[10][11]
• s. x med. – the lioness and her magister in the Old English Boethius (Cotton Otho A. vi).^[15][11][12]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – ealra magister Drihten Crist “Christ the Lord, master of all” in the Old English Bede (Tanner 10).^[16][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. a leader, chief, ruler, director.^[12][4]
2. a master as against a servant; the owner or tamer of an animal.^[12]
3. a teacher; the master of a disciple.^[12][4]

Descendants

• Middle English maister (→ English master; English mister; Scots maister)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 113
3. ^ Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 665
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. mǣgester
5. ^ Durkin, Philip (2014), Borrowed Words: A History of Loanwords in English, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 107
6. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 213
7. ^ Hogg, Richard M. (1992), A Grammar of Old English, vol. 1: Phonology, Oxford: Blackwell, p. § 5.79.2
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
11. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
12. ^ a b c d e f g Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 630
13. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 296
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 531