Advisorship

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The position or role of serving as an advisor, providing guidance or recommendations; the act or period of advising someone or a group; the condition or capacity of offering counsel or expert opinion
2. The status or function of being a counselor who offers advice and suggestions; the service or duration of giving strategic or expert guidance; the professional capacity of assisting decision-making processes
3. The office or duty of giving advice or recommendations; the process or term of supporting someone through expert counsel; the situation of acting in a consultative role to influence decisions

Etymology: "Advisorship" is a plain compound: "advisor" with the suffix "-ship" attached. The suffix is the older and more interesting part. It comes from Old English "scipe," a noun meaning "shape" or "condition," which also gave us "friendship," "hardship," and "kingship." Over the centuries it has attached to nouns to name a state, office, or skill, so "kingship" is the condition of being a king and "advisorship" follows the same pattern. The base word "advisor" comes from "advise," which passed into English through Old French "aviser" from Late Latin "advisare," meaning "to look at" or "to consider." Its earliest sense was thus closer to inspecting something than to recommending a course of action. The shift toward giving counsel happened gradually, so a person who advised was originally one who weighed a matter carefully before speaking.

Synonyms: counselorship, mentorship