English
coadjutor
Coadjutor comes from Late Latin adiūtor ‘helper’, and goes back to adiuvō ‘to help’.
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEadiuvō‘to help’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEadiūtor‘helper’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEcoadiūtōrem
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400coadjuteur
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coadjutowre
- Englishearliest quotation 1842coadjutor
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Late Latinc. 200–600 CEadiuvō‘to help’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEadiūtor‘helper’
- Late Latin, derivedc. 200–600 CEcoadiūtōrem
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400coadjuteur
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500coadjutowre
- Englishearliest quotation 1842coadjutor
Earliest quotation: 1842, anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizab, Keeping up Appearances. […]: “Then have the lady patronesses and their active coadjutors,…”
The story
The French derivation gave the accentuation coˈadjutor (used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge), but the poets generally, since 1600, appear to have coaˈdjutor, after Latin. No Latin *coadiuvō or *coadiūtō is recorded, but in the modern languages words have been formed on these types, suggested by coadjutor.
Linked words
through Late Latin adiuvō ‘to help’
Today it means
noun An assistant or helper.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Late Latin adiuvō / coadjutor