July 10, 1996

gubernatorial

What is the origin of the word "gubernatorial"? It's not like "governor" at all!

Gubernatorial is now different in form from governor, but they did originally start off the same way. Both words go back to the same Latin root, gubernare 'to steer; to govern'. The word gubernatorial (an Americanism, by the way) was borrowed directly from the Latin gubernator 'a steersman; governor' in the eighteenth century, so it preserves the form of the Latin word. Governor, on the other hand, was borrowed in the thirteenth century from the Old French word governeor. This Old French word derives from the same Latin word, but it underwent the regular sound changes of Latin b to Old French v and Latin u to Old French o.

This two-stage borrowing process, where certain forms come directly from Latin and other forms come through Old French, is a common one in English. For example, both quiet and coy are descended from the Latin quietus, but coy went through Old French on the way, and as a result has a different form and a different meaning.

The Latin gubernare itself was borrowed from Greek kybernan 'to steer', which is the ultimate root of the English word cybernetics and hence of all catchwords with the prefix cyber-.

In other words, government and cyberporn are related. Something worth keeping in mind.