professor Latin · revision 4352
15 Oct 2026, 22:40 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Valerius Maximus|origins=la profiteor}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [prɔˈfɛs.sɔr]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [proˈfɛs.sor]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''professor''' ''m'' (genitive professōris, feminine profestrīx); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|profiteor|-tor|t1=to declare publicly, profess]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Valerius Maximus says the teachers of that study are called sophists.^(OLD 2012) The TLL finds it only in prose, and Köbler dates Valerius Maximus to the 1st century AD.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) Celsus, of the same period, calls philosophers ''sapientiae professōrēs''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was a person who claims expertise in an art or science, a teacher, and Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Quintilian and Suetonius use it of teachers of rhetoric and grammar.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) An inscription uses it of a candidate for the aedileship.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ In medieval Latin it was a scribe of a town council, a monk who has taken vows and a university teacher.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) British writers used it of one who professes something, such as evangelical poverty.^(DMLBS) English ''professor'' is recorded in the late 14th century as one who teaches a branch of knowledge.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus speaks of the teachers of wisdom.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1st century AD – Valerius Maximus uses it of sophists.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of a teacher of rhetoric.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * late 14th century – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|professor]].^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A public teacher, [[m|en|professor]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+ # A candidate for office.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A municipal scribe; a professed monk; a university teacher.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' One who professes something.^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[profiteor]]
+ * [[en|professor]]
+ * [[en|profess]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}