Professour

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A scholar who holds the highest academic rank at a university or college ; a person who openly declares and adheres to a religious faith
2. A senior teacher and researcher at a university ; someone who publicly avows a religious belief and commits to it
3. An academic of the top rank who teaches and studies in higher education ; one who makes a open confession of allegiance to a faith

Etymology: "Professour" is simply the older spelling of "professor," and the word it spells has shifted from a bold public declaration to a university post. Its Latin ancestor "professor" meant someone who declares or claims knowledge openly, and it was built on the past participle stem of "profiteor," meaning "to profess," that is, to declare publicly. A professor in this original sense was someone who stood up and announced what they believed or knew. The word came into Middle English through Anglo-Norman "proffessur," and the medieval spelling "professour" reflects that French-influenced pathway. Its meaning gradually narrowed from anyone who professed a faith or skill to a teacher of the highest rank in a university, though the older sense of openly declaring something still lingers in the verb "profess."

Synonyms: professor