professor

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [prɔˈfɛs.sɔr]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [proˈfɛs.sor]^[1]

Forms

professor m (genitive professōris, feminine profestrīx); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin profiteor (“to declare publicly, profess”) + -tor.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Valerius Maximus says the teachers of that study are called sophists.^[2] The TLL finds it only in prose, and Köbler dates Valerius Maximus to the 1st century AD.^[3][4] Celsus, of the same period, calls philosophers sapientiae professōrēs.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a person who claims expertise in an art or science, a teacher, and Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^[2][5] Quintilian and Suetonius use it of teachers of rhetoric and grammar.^[5][6] An inscription uses it of a candidate for the aedileship.^[2]

In medieval Latin it was a scribe of a town council, a monk who has taken vows and a university teacher.^[7][4] British writers used it of one who professes something, such as evangelical poverty.^[8] English professor is recorded in the late 14th century as one who teaches a branch of knowledge.^[9]

Timeline

• 14–37 AD – Celsus speaks of the teachers of wisdom.^[5][4]
• 1st century AD – Valerius Maximus uses it of sophists.^[2][4]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a teacher of rhetoric.^[2][4]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as professor.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A public teacher, professor.^[2][5]
2. A candidate for office.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A municipal scribe; a professed monk; a university teacher.^[7][4]
4. (Medieval Latin) One who professes something.^[8]

Related words

• profiteor
• English professor
• English profess

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com