Etymograph

English

confessor

Confessor comes from Latin cōnfessor ‘confessor of the Christian faith’, from fateor ‘acknowledge, own (up to)’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine, glow light’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fatēōr‘to confess’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfateor‘acknowledge, own (up to)’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfiteor‘confess, admit, acknowledge’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfessor‘confessor of the Christian faith’
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400confessour
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500confessor
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1994same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰeh₂-‘to shine, glow light’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*fatēōr‘to confess’reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfateor‘acknowledge, own (up to)’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfiteor‘confess, admit, acknowledge’
  5. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōnfessor‘confessor of the Christian faith’
  6. Anglo-Normanc. 1066–1400confessour
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500confessor
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1994same form

Earliest quotation: 1994, Larry Gross, Coming Out On the Soaps: “They do not feel connected to any gay/lesbian communities.…”

Equivalent to confess + -or

Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’

…

Latin confessus ‘having confessed, acknowledged’

Old French confesser ‘to confess’

Anglo-Norman confesser

Middle English confessen

English confess

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- ‘to shine, glow light’

phone, focus, famous, fuel, ben, phase, favourite, ban, fantasy, favor, fate, fancy, fame, photographer, emphasis, fatal, bee, fairy, fabulous, phenomenon, abandon, infant, phantom, beck, symphony, eff, fab, beacon, fay, bane, boon, prophetic, epiphany, fable, foyer, banish, buoy, nefarious, fantasia, bene, 126 more

through Latin fateor ‘acknowledge, own (up to)’

professor, profession, profess, 7 more

Today it means

noun One who confesses faith in Christianity in the face of persecution, but who is not martyred.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- / confessor

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