entry
master
/ˈmæstər/A person with authority, skill, or control
From Latin magister (chief).
from PIE *mag-yos- , comparative of root *meg- "great." The form was influenced in Middle English by Old French cognate...
+1 more sourcefrom Latin magister (n.) "chief, head, director, teacher" (source of Old French maistre , French maître , Spanish and...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English mǣster, mæġster, mæġester, mæġister, magister (“master”)
from Middle English maister, mayster, meister (noun) and maistren (verb)
Word Ancestry
from PIE *mag-yos- , comparative of root *meg- "great." The form was influenced in Middle English by Old French cognate...
+1 more sourcefrom Latin magister (n.) "chief, head, director, teacher" (source of Old French maistre , French maître , Spanish and...
+1 more sourcefrom Old English mǣster, mæġster, mæġester, mæġister, magister (“master”)
from Middle English maister, mayster, meister (noun) and maistren (verb)
A master began as someone who was, quite literally, “greater”—not necessarily taller, richer, or louder, but higher in rank or authority. Latin magister meant a chief, teacher, or director, built from a comparative form related to *meg-, “great”; its opposite was minister, originally the “lesser” or subordinate person. By the late Old English period, around the eleventh century, mǣster had entered English, and medieval French maistre helped tug its spelling toward the modern form. The word then spread everywhere authority could be found: a teacher, a craftsperson qualified to train apprentices, a ship’s captain, an employer, an owner, and eventually someone who could control almost anything. Its academic sense survives in the master’s degree, originally a medieval license granting authority to teach. The ship’s mast is a different word entirely—despite the tempting visual resemblance—so a master is not a person standing on a mast, but an ancient “greater one” still issuing orders from the deck.
The Story
A master began as someone who was, quite literally, “greater”—not necessarily taller, richer, or louder, but higher in rank or authority. Latin magister meant a chief, teacher, or director, built from a comparative form related to *meg-, “great”; its opposite was minister, originally the “lesser” or subordinate person. By the late Old English period, around the eleventh century, mǣster had entered English, and medieval French maistre helped tug its spelling toward the modern form. The word then spread everywhere authority could be found: a teacher, a craftsperson qualified to train apprentices, a ship’s captain, an employer, an owner, and eventually someone who could control almost anything. Its academic sense survives in the master’s degree, originally a medieval license granting authority to teach. The ship’s mast is a different word entirely—despite the tempting visual resemblance—so a master is not a person standing on a mast, but an ancient “greater one” still issuing orders from the deck.
Modern Usage
A dominant person in a BDSM or D/s relationship
Kin & Kindred
From 'magister'·chief, leader, teacher; literally the greater one
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Etymonline
Free Dictionary
Urban Dictionary
Wiktionary