Etymograph

English

master

Master comes from Middle English maister ‘master’, from Latin magister ‘chief, teacher, leader’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s ‘big, great’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méǵh₂s1‘big’reconstructed
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEmagester1
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagister1‘chief’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mǣster1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500maister1‘master’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598master1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English master
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “[…]the wealth / That the world maſters.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*méǵh₂sWiktionary, English master‘big’reconstructed
  2. Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEmagesterWiktionary, English master
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmagisterWiktionary, English master‘chief’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150mǣsterWiktionary, English master
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500maisterWiktionary, English master‘master’
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1596–1598masterWiktionary, English master. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice: “[…]the wealth / That the world maſters.”

The story

Reinforced by Old French maistre, mestre (noun) and maistriier, maister (verb) from the same Latin source.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s ‘big, great’

major, mayor, magnitude, magnum, maxim, 22 more

through Latin magister ‘chief, teacher, leader’

mistress, magistrate, maestro, 12 more

Today it means

noun Someone who has control over something or someone.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “master”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s / master

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