janitor

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈd͡ʒænɪtə/ (UK); /ˈd͡ʒænɪtɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin iānitor (“doorkeeper”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from iānua “door”,^[2][3][4] from iānus “archway, covered passage”.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} It is related to January and Janus, the god of gates and beginnings.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An usher in a school (1584).^[7][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word was adopted from Latin records, first in Scots,^[2] and soon meant a doorkeeper or porter (about 1630).^[7][3][4] In Scots use a janitor was also a minor school official whose duties included upkeep,^[2] and from 1708 the word meant the caretaker of a building who looks after its cleaning and heating,^[7][3][4] now the main sense.^[2][5][6]

Timeline

• 1584 – a school usher.^[7][3][4]
• about 1630 – a doorkeeper.^[7][3][4]
• 1708 – the caretaker of a building.^[7][3][4]
• 1806 – janitress.^[7][4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person employed to clean and maintain a building; a caretaker.
2. (archaic) A doorkeeper; a doorman.

Word family

• janitorial

Related words

• Janus
• January

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press