coadjutor

The story

1. Late Latin · derived fromcoadiūtōrem
2. Old French · derived fromcoadjuteur
3. Middle English · inherited fromcoadjutowre
4. English todaycoadjutor

From Middle English coadjutowre, from Old French coadjuteur, borrowed from Late Latin coadiūtōrem, from co- + adiūtor (“helper”), from adiuvō (“to help”) + -tor (agent suffix). By surface analysis, co- + adjutor. The French derivation gave the accentuation co⁠ˈadjutor (used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge), but the poets generally, since 1600, appear to have coa⁠ˈdjutor, after Latin. No Latin *coadiuvō or *coadiūtō is recorded, but in the modern languages words have been formed on these types, suggested by coadjutor.

First known use, by meaning

• from c. 1430–1450 An assistant or helper.
• from 1549 An assistant to a bishop.