Etymology of mayor

The source reports below are imported and unreviewed by *SET-U. Separate numbered origins and differing source variants are preserved; agreement within this extraction is not independent corroboration.

Unnumbered source etymology

Original entry ↗

noun

The chief executive of the municipal government of a city, borough, etc., formerly (historical) usually appointed as a caretaker by European royal courts but now usually appointed or elected locally. · Ellipsis of mayor of the palace, the royal stewards of the Frankish Empire. · Synonym of mair, various former officials in the Kingdom of Scotland. · A member of a city council.

Selected source glosses provide context, not a complete modern definition inventory

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s Proto-Indo-European *-yōs Proto-Indo-European *méǵyōs Proto-Italic *majjōs Latin maior Old French mairebor. Middle English maire English mayor From Middle English maire, from Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”), a substantivation of Old French maire (“greater”), from Latin maior (“bigger, greater, superior”), comparative of magnus (“big, great”). Doublet of major. Cognate with Old High German meior (“estate manager, steward, bailiff”) (modern German Meier), Middle Dutch meier (“administrator, steward, bailiff”) (modern Dutch meier). Displaced Old English burgealdor (“a ruler of a city, mayor, citizen”), burhġerēfa (“boroughreeve”), and portġerēfa (“portreeve”).

Relationships mentioned by the source

These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.

Inherited-form mentionmaireenm
Derivation mentionmairefro · head of a city or town government
Derivation mentionmairefro · greater
Derivation mentionmaiorla · bigger, greater, superior
Doublet mentionmajoren
Cognate mentionmeiorgoh · estate manager, steward, bailiff
Cognate mentionMeierde
Cognate mentionmeierdum · administrator, steward, bailiff
Cognate mentionmeiernl
Non-cognate comparisonburgealdorang · a ruler of a city, mayor, citizen

This page abbreviates 3 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.

Inspect preserved source fields

Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.

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  "templates": [
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:maire<ety:bor<fro:maire>>",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s\nProto-Indo-European *-yōs\nProto-Indo-European *méǵyōs\nProto-Italic *majjōs\nLatin maior\nOld French mairebor.\nMiddle English maire\nEnglish mayor\n[Appendix:Glossary#loanword|Borrowed]] from\", \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"children\" : [ { \"terms\" : [ { \"id\" : \"big\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*méǵh₂s\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" }, { \"id\" : \"very\", \"children\" : [ ], \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*-yōs\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"From\", \"is_group\" : true, \"keyword\" : \"affix\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Indo-European\", \"term\" : \"*méǵyōs\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"ine-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Proto-Italic\", \"term\" : \"*majjōs\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"itc-pro\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Latin\", \"term\" : \"maior\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"la\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Old French\", \"term\" : \"maire\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"fro\" } ], \"keyword\" : \"bor\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"Middle English\", \"term\" : \"maire\", \"status\" : \"inline\", \"lang\" : \"enm\" } ], \"keyword_label\" : \"Inherited from\", \"keyword\" : \"inherited\" } ], \"lang_name\" : \"English\", \"term\" : \"mayor\", \"status\" : \"ok\", \"lang\" : \"en\" }\" data-lang=\"en\" data-title=\"mayor\">"
    },
    {
      "name": "inh",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "maire"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English maire"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "maire",
        "t": "head of a city or town government"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French maire (“head of a city or town government”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "maire",
        "t": "greater"
      },
      "expansion": "Old French maire (“greater”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "der",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "maior",
        "t": "bigger, greater, superior"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin maior (“bigger, greater, superior”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "doublet",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "major"
      },
      "expansion": "Doublet of major"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "goh",
        "2": "meior",
        "t": "estate manager, steward, bailiff"
      },
      "expansion": "Old High German meior (“estate manager, steward, bailiff”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "de",
        "2": "Meier"
      },
      "expansion": "German Meier"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "dum",
        "2": "meier",
        "t": "administrator, steward, bailiff"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle Dutch meier (“administrator, steward, bailiff”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "cog",
      "args": {
        "1": "nl",
        "2": "meier"
      },
      "expansion": "Dutch meier"
    },
    {
      "name": "glossary",
      "args": {
        "1": "Displaced"
      },
      "expansion": "Displaced"
    },
    {
      "name": "ncog",
      "args": {
        "1": "ang",
        "2": "burgealdor",
        "3": "",
        "t": "a ruler of a city, mayor, citizen",
        "lit": "",
        "pos": "",
        "tr": "",
        "ts": "",
        "id": "",
        "sc": "",
        "g": "",
        "g2": "",
        "g3": ""
      },
      "expansion": "Old English burgealdor (“a ruler of a city, mayor, citizen”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "displaced",
      "args": {
        "1": "ang",
        "2": "burgealdor",
        "t": "a ruler of a city, mayor, citizen"
      },
      "expansion": "Displaced Old English burgealdor (“a ruler of a city, mayor, citizen”)"
    },
    {
      "name": "etymon",
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": ":inh",
        "3": "enm:maire<ety:bor<fro:maire>>",
        "tree": "1"
      },
      "expansion": "Etymology tree\nProto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s\nProto-Indo-European *-yōs\nProto-Indo-European *méǵyōs\nProto-Italic *majjōs\nLatin maior\nOld French mairebor.\nMiddle English maire\nEnglish mayor"
    }
  ],
  "links": [
    [
      "*méǵh₂s",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/méǵh₂s#Proto-Indo-European:_big"
    ],
    [
      "*-yōs",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/-yōs#Proto-Indo-European:_very"
    ],
    [
      "*méǵyōs",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/méǵyōs"
    ],
    [
      "*majjōs",
      "Reconstruction:Proto-Italic/majjōs"
    ],
    [
      "maior",
      "maior#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "maire",
      "maire#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "maire",
      "maire#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "maire",
      "maire#Middle_English"
    ],
    [
      "maire",
      "maire#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "maire",
      "maire#Old_French"
    ],
    [
      "maior",
      "maior#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "magnus",
      "magnus#Latin"
    ],
    [
      "major",
      "major#English"
    ],
    [
      "meior",
      "meior#Old_High_German"
    ],
    [
      "Meier",
      "Meier#German"
    ],
    [
      "meier",
      "meier#Middle_Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "meier",
      "meier#Dutch"
    ],
    [
      "burgealdor",
      "burgealdor#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "burhġerēfa",
      "burhgerefa#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "boroughreeve",
      "boroughreeve"
    ],
    [
      "portġerēfa",
      "portgerefa#Old_English"
    ],
    [
      "portreeve",
      "portreeve"
    ]
  ],
  "references": [],
  "descendants": [
    {
      "lang": "Cebuano",
      "lang_code": "ceb",
      "word": "mayor",
      "raw_tags": [
        "reshaped by analogy or addition of morphemes"
      ]
    },
    {
      "lang": "Swahili",
      "lang_code": "sw",
      "word": "meya",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "lang": "Tok Pisin",
      "lang_code": "tpi",
      "word": "meya",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ]
    },
    {
      "lang": "Yiddish",
      "lang_code": "yi",
      "word": "מייאָר",
      "raw_tags": [
        "borrowed"
      ],
      "roman": "meyor"
    }
  ],
  "lexical": [
    {
      "pos": "noun",
      "glosses": [
        "The chief executive of the municipal government of a city, borough, etc., formerly (historical) usually appointed as a caretaker by European royal courts but now usually appointed or elected locally.",
        "Ellipsis of mayor of the palace, the royal stewards of the Frankish Empire.",
        "Synonym of mair, various former officials in the Kingdom of Scotland.",
        "A member of a city council."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "abbreviation",
        "alt-of",
        "ellipsis",
        "historical",
        "Ireland",
        "obsolete",
        "rare"
      ],
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      "sourceRecordOrdinal": 44228
    }
  ],
  "omittedAuxiliaryFields": {
    "templates": 0,
    "links": 0,
    "references": 0,
    "descendants": 0,
    "lexicalRecords": 0,
    "lexicalSenses": 3,
    "glosses": 0
  }
}

The source etymologies

Unnumbered source etymology

Relationships mentioned by the source

Where this record stops

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