Etymologically
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doctor

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈdɒk.tə/, US /ˈdɑːk.tɚ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English doctour,[2][3] borrowed from Old French doctour,[4][2] from Medieval Latin doctor (“religious teacher, adviser, scholar”),[4][2] in classical Latin “teacher”, an agent noun from docēre (“to show, teach”),[4][5] originally “to make appear right”, a causative of decēre (“to be seemly, fitting”),[4][2] the source of decent.[2] The verb is from the noun.[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Doctor of the Church, an early teacher or father of the Christian Church: about 1303, in Mannyng's Handlyng Synne,[2][6] and about 1300 in Etymonline.[4]

Semantic evolution

The holder of the highest university degree, one empowered to teach a subject, is from the late 14th century[4] (1377 in the OED, probably before 1378 in Piers Plowman in Barnhart),[6][2] and so the word also meant a teacher or learned man.[4] The sense of a medical practitioner grew gradually from this, from about 1400, replacing the native leech, though it was not common until the late 16th century;[4] Chaucer's Doctor of Phisik shows the transitional stage.[4] As a title before a name it is from about 1450.[6] The verb first meant “to confer the degree of doctor on” (1599),[6][2] then “to treat medically” (1712),[4] “to patch up, repair” (1829),[6] and “to alter so as to deceive, falsify” (1774).[4][6] In Scotland a doctor was also an assistant master in a school, from 1630.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 1303 – Doctor of the Church.[2]
  • 1377 – holder of the highest university degree.[6]
  • c. 1400 – a medical practitioner.[4]
  • c. 1450 – as a title.[6]
  • 1599 – verb, to confer a doctorate.[6][2]
  • 1676 – doctorate.[2]
  • 1712 – verb, to treat medically.[4]
  • 1774 – verb, to falsify.[4][6]
  • 1829 – verb, to patch up.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person trained and licensed to treat illness, such as a physician, dentist or veterinarian.
  2. A person who holds the highest academic degree of a university, such as a PhD.
  3. (Christianity) A theologian recognized as an authoritative teacher: a Doctor of the Church.

Verb

  1. To give medical treatment to.
  2. To repair, especially in a makeshift way.
  3. To falsify or alter so as to deceive: doctored accounts.
  4. To add something to food or drink to change its taste or quality.

Word family

  • doctoral
  • doctorly
  • doctorless
  • doctorship
  • doctorally
  • docent
  • doctorate
  • doctrine
  • document
  • docile
  • decent
  • physician

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press