maestro — an eminent composer, teacher, or conductor of music; a master at something
maestro — the Spanish, Italian, and French cognates of the same meaning
“Maestro” comes to us from Latin’s magister, which means “master.” It changed into “maestro” in the Italian language, from which we borrowed the word, and we can see that Spanish and French did as well.
When learning the Spanish language, a word that you will learn very early on, if you are learning the language in a traditional classroom setting at least, is the word “maestro” and its feminine form of “maestra” for “teacher.” “Profesor” and “Profesora” also exist and are easy to remember because they are very obvious cognates of “professor.”
“Maestro” kind of eludes young students because they don’t see the connection to the word “teacher.”
However, when you realize that to be a teacher of something, you need to have mastered that subject, then making the connection between “master” and “maestro” is fairly easy. In fact, when you look up the word “master” on merriam-webster.com, you will see that the very first definition for “master” is “a male teacher.”
The meaning immediately following that one is “a person holding an academic degree higher than a bachelor's but lower than a doctor's.” Many teachers, including me, have master’s degrees. It’s called that to show that you are now a master in your subject — you are skilled and proficient in your craft.
In English, when we hear the word “maestro,” I think most people immediately picture a person leading a grand orchestra on a massive stage as the orchestra plays something by Beethoven. If you imagine such a person, that’s fine, actually, because you know that for him to be a conductor of such an impressive orchestra, he has thoroughly mastered his craft.
Thus, you can imagine a teacher who has also mastered her craft, so she has the title of “Maestra” in Spanish.
In English, we use the word “masterpiece” to indicate that a painting, a composition, a play, a movie, etc. is either its creator’s very best creation or is simply a truly impressive piece of work. This can also be called a “masterwork.”
The word “master” can have a negative connotation, though, when it’s used to show that you have dominance over others. “Maestro,” on the other hand, does not, even though it technically means “master.” “Maestro” signifies a person who is a master of his craft, and it can also be used as a respectful title of address for that person.
Personally, I like that Spanish uses this word to refer to a teacher because it conveys a level of respect that the word “teacher” in English does not have, in my opinion. “Professor” does, but “teacher” does not. I like being called “Maestra.” It sounds important, whereas a student addressing me as “Teacher” sounds a bit disrespectful.
Words and the underlying things they convey can be weird, I know, but they are still fun, and I hope I’m doing a small part to make you more of a “maestro” of language.
If you’ve been enjoying my writing here and would like to read and hear more from me, please consider at least a one-month subscription to my other newsletter called “Tomes and Topics” where I share some humorous commentary about a different topic each week as well as some of my writing (poems, fiction pieces, essays, etc.) about the same topic. Find it here: tomesandtopics.substack.com
Until next time.
Tammy Marshall
Maestro