- conductor
- 1481, "one who leads or guides," conduitour, from O.Fr. conduitor, from L. conductorem, agent noun from conducere (see conduce). Meaning "leader of an orchestra or chorus" is from 1784; meaning "one who has charge of passengers and collects fares on a railroad" is 1832, Amer.Eng. Physics sense of "object or device that passes heat" is from 1745; of electricity from 1737.
- semiconductor
- 1838, "material whose electrical conductivity is between that of a conductor and that of an insulator," from semi- + conductor. Modern very specific sense is recorded from 1931.
- shunt (v.)
- early 13c., perhaps from shunen "to shun" (see shun). Adopted by railways 1842 as a verb, 1862 as a noun, and by technicians in the sense of "electrical conductor" from 1863. Medical use dates from 1923.
- kapellmeister
- "conductor," 1838, from Ger., lit. "chapel master," from Kapelle "chapel" (also the name given to a band or orchestra) + Meister "master."
- maestro
- 1797, "master of music, great teacher or composer," from It. maestro, lit. "master," from L. magisterium, acc. of magister (see master). Applied in It. to eminent musical composers. Meaning "conductor, musical director" is short for maestro di cappella (1724), lit. "master of the chapel" (cf. Ger. kapellmeister).
- con (3)
- "swindle," 1889, Amer.Eng., from confidence man (1849), from the many scams in which the victim is induced to hand over money as a token of confidence. Confidence with a sense of "assurance based on insufficient grounds" dates from 1590s. Con also can be a slang or colloquial shortening of several other con- words in English, e.g., from the 19th century, confidant, conundrum, conformist, contract, and from the 20th century, convict, conductor.
- -er (1)
- English agent noun ending, corresponding to L. -or. In native words it represents O.E. -ere (O.Northumbrian also -are) "man who has to do with," from W.Gmc. *-ari (cf. Ger. -er, Swed. -are, Dan. -ere), from P.Gmc. *-arjoz. Some believe this root is identical with, and perhaps a borrowing of, Latin -arius. In words of Latin origin, verbs derived from pp. stems of Latin ones (including most verbs in -ate) usually take the Latin ending -or, as do Latin verbs that passed through French (e.g. governor), but there are many exceptions (eraser, laborer, promoter, deserter, sailor, bachelor), some of which were conformed from L. to Eng. in late M.E. The use of -or and -ee in legal language (e.g. lessor/lessee) to distinguish actors and recipients of action has given the -or ending a tinge of professionalism, and this makes it useful in doubling words that have both a professional and non-professional sense (e.g. advisor/adviser, conductor/conducter, incubator/incubater, elevator/elevater).