2006-09-15 01:39:40 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
"Gubernatorial" (and at one time "gubernator"!) and "governor" come from the same Latin root -- but they were borrowed into English at different times, through different channels.
The Latin . . . "gubernare," meaning "to rule" . . . gave us the English word "gubernator" around 1522, meaning "ruler." The adjective "gubernatorial," which appeared around 1734, at first meant "pertaining to a ruler or governor" in the generic sense of "governor," but today is almost always only used in reference to state officials bearing the formal title "Governor."
The Latin word "gubernare". . . was also filtered through Old French to produce the word "governeur," meaning "ruler," which gave us the English word "governor" in the 14th century
http://www.word-detective.com/061300.html
So it is not a matter of English having decided to change the root, and in fact the adjectival form is CLOSER to the Latin original.
There are actually a number of examples of this sort of discrepancy between a noun form and the associated adjective.
Here are three important ways this happens:
1) each form is borrowed separately (as with governer, gubernatorial)... and so one English form is NOT based on the other
2) a shift in accent can change vowel sounds in different forms, and so we end with "emperor" and its adjectival form "imperial"
3) the MOST unusual cases are those where the noun and its adjective are original UN-related. This happens mostly when the simple noun goes back to the Anglo-Saxon and the adjectival form was borrowed from Latin. Thus we have "paternal" for the noun "father".
"Many such Latinate words entered English via the Norman French spoken by the aristocracy in England following the Norman Conquest, or as scientific terms from the period when all scientific work was done in Latin."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adjective#Adjectives_of_relation
Here's a nice list of such adjectives and their associated nouns:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_non-standard_English_adjectives
2006-09-15 05:30:41 · answer #1 · answered by bruhaha 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Gubernatorial Meaning
2016-11-07 02:28:38 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Evidently, "gubernatorial" came directly from Latin while "governor" came from Latin through French (gouverner) but "why" that is I don't know.
2006-09-15 01:48:58 · answer #3 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
For that matter, why don't they call the elected official a "Guber"?
2006-09-15 02:08:26 · answer #4 · answered by DangerMom 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋