—Is there a doctor on the plane!?

—Yes, I’m a doctor!

—Oh thank God, come quick, I think he’s having a heart attack!

—Oh, I’m not a medical doctor. I have a PhD in medieval French literature. It’s quite interesting actually. You see…

Why do we use doctor in two such different ways in English? What’s the link between a physician and a top-level academic? Looking at the origin of the word, it comes from the Medieval Latin doctor meaning religious adviser, teacher, or scholar. You can still observe that meaning in modern words such as doctrine or indoctrination. Towards the end of the 16th century, doctor began to replace the much older word leech, meaning physician. Continue reading →