1640s, from Latin liberator "one who sets free, a deliverer" (source also of French libérateur, Spanish liberador, Italian liberatore), agent noun from past participle stem of liberare "to set free" (see liberate).

1650s, "one versed in algebraic analysis, mathematician skilled in algebraic geometry," from French analyste "a person who analyzes," from analyser, from analyse "analysis," from Medieval Latin analysis (see analysis). As a short form of psychoanalyst, attested from 1914; the one analyzed is an analysand (1933). Greek analyter meant "a deliverer."

c. 1300, Messias, a designation of Jesus as the savior of the world, from Late Latin Messias, from Greek Messias, from Aramaic (Semitic) meshiha and Hebrew mashiah "the anointed" (of the Lord), from mashah "anoint." It is thus the Hebrew equivalent of Christ, and it is the word rendered in Septuagint as Greek Khristos (see Christ).

In Old Testament prophetic writing, it was used as a descriptive title of an expected deliverer of the Jewish nation. The modern English form represents an attempt to make the word look more Hebrew, and dates from the Geneva Bible (1560). Transferred sense of "an expected liberator or savior of a captive people" is attested from 1660s. Related: Messiahship "the character, state, or office of Jesus Christ as savior of the world" (1620s).

c. 1300, Prestre Johan, legendary medieval Christian king and priest, said to have ruled either in the Far East or Ethiopia. Prestre (attested as a surname late 12c.) is from Vulgar Latin *prester, a transition between Latin presbyter and English priest. First mentioned in the West by mid-12c. chronicler Otto of Freising, who told how Johannes Presbyter won a great victory over the Persians and the Medes. Between 1165 and 1177 a forged letter purporting to be from him circulated in Europe. All this recalls the time when the Christian West was militarily threatened on its frontiers by Muslim powers, dreaming of a mythical deliverer. Compare Old French prestre Jehan (13c.), Italian prete Gianni.