superintendent

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˌsuː.pər.ɪnˈten.dənt/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin superintendēns (“an overseer”),^[2][3][4] the present participle of Late Latin superintendere, to oversee (see superintend),^[2][3] from super-, above, and intendere, to turn one's attention to (see intend).^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Originally a church word, a bishop or a minister overseeing the churches of a district, ultimately a loan translation of Greek episkopos, overseer: about 1544 in Merriam-Webster, the 1550s in Etymonline.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Sixteenth-century radical Protestants used it in place of bishop, a word they thought tainted by the papacy;^[2] Lyly mocked them in 1589 for razing out good Greek and interlining bad Latin.^[2] The general sense, a person in charge of a business or institution, is recorded by the 1580s, 1588 in the OED.^[2][6] A police officer above an inspector is from 1832,^[6] and in American English the caretaker of a building from about 1935.^[2][7] The adjective, superintending, is from the 1590s.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1544 – a church overseer.^[3]
• 1588 – a person in charge.^[6]
• 1832 – a police superintendent.^[6]
• c. 1935 – a building caretaker (US).^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who directs or manages an organization, institution or activity.
2. (UK) A senior police officer, above an inspector.
3. (US) The caretaker of an apartment building; a janitor.
4. (US) The head of a police department.

Word family

• sidewalk superintendent

Related words

• superintend
• superintendency
• intend
• bishop

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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin