Demster

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A judicial officer who presides over court cases on the Isle of Man, a self-governing Crown dependency in the Irish Sea
2. A magistrate or judge holding office in the Isle of Man, where such officials have long administered both civil and criminal law
3. The title given to a judge of the Isle of Man's high court, an office with roots in the island's Norse and medieval legal traditions

Etymology: "Demster" is an obsolete spelling of "deemster," the title once used for a judge on the Isle of Man. The word came into Middle English as "demester" or "demster," built from "deem," meaning "to judge," plus the suffix "-ster," which marks a person who performs an action. A deemster, then, is simply one who deems, or passes judgment. The suffix does the most work here. "-ster" appears in English words such as "spinster" and "songster," where it attaches to a verb to name the person doing that activity. In the case of "demster," the pairing of an ordinary judicial verb with this agent suffix produced a plain, functional title for the court official, rather than a borrowed legal term from abroad.

Synonyms: judge, magistrate, justice