astrologer

Etymology

The revised OED takes it as probably formed partly from English astrology + -er and partly from Latin astrologus with the same suffix.^[2] Etymonline likewise forms it from astrology and -er.^[3] Merriam-Webster instead treats it as a probable modification, influenced by the suffix, from Middle French astrologien,^[4] and the Shorter Oxford derives it from Old French astrologue or astrologien.^[5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek ἀστρολόγος (astrológos, “astronomer”),^[2][5] the first part of which means star and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“star”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who studies the stars and their influence, in the medieval understanding of the subject: before 1382, in the prefatory epistle of Jerome in the Wycliffite Bible.^[2] Etymonline dates it to the late 14th century, as an observer of the stars.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word competed with the French-derived form that Chaucer used in "The wise Astrologen",^[3] and it drove that form out, though the OED and the Shorter Oxford also record astrologian and astrologue to later dates.^[3][2][5] It overlapped in meaning with astronomer,^[2] and the sense of a practical observer of the stars lasted from 1581 to 1745.^[2][5] According to Etymonline, the narrowed sense of someone who claims to read the influence of the planets on people and events dates from about 1600, while the two words were still sorting themselves out: the OED said that their relation was at first the converse of the present one, and Shakespeare used astronomer where a modern writer would use astrologer.^[3] Johnson (1755) gives the predicting sense first, and notes that the word was anciently used for one who understood the motions of the planets, without prediction.^[6] Chaucer's Troilus (before 1413) has the cock as the common astrologer, the announcer of the sunrise, a use that lasted only until about 1460.^[2][5][3]

Timeline

• before 1382 – a student of astrology as understood in medieval times.^[2]
• before 1413 – the cockerel, as announcer of the sunrise (obsolete by 1460).^[2]
• 1581 – an observer of the stars, a practical astronomer (obsolete by 1745).^[2]
• c. 1600 – someone who professes to read the influence of the planets on people and events.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who practises astrology, claiming to foretell or explain events from the stars and planets: The queen consulted her astrologer before the voyage.^[4][2][6]
2. (obsolete, 1581–1745) An observer of the stars; an astronomer.^[2][5][4][6]
3. (obsolete, 1413–1460) The cockerel, as announcer of the sunrise.^[2][5]

Related words

• astrology
• astronomer
• astral
• star

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.