Today’s Germanism in the English language is used slightly differently from how Germans would do: Meister (pronounce: ‘mice-tah, i.e. master).
First off, Meister derives from the antique Greek and Latin and simply means teacher, as in mastering a subject. Essentially, it describes somebody who has successfully finished the apprenticeship in a trade and been certified to teach others in this field. The title is still around in German-speaking nations as well as regions such as Luxemburg or parts of Northern Italy.
Then, there are job titles that use Meister (singular and plural are the same) in a compound noun, but they are not considered as trades. There are, for example, Wachtmeister (pronounce approximately: ‘vuht-mice-tah, literally guarding masters), constables with the police. There is the Hausmeister (pronounce: house-mice-tah, i.e. master of the house), a janitor. A Schwimmmeister – three mms!!! – (pronounce: ‘shvim-mice-tah, i.e. master of swimming) is a swimming supervisor at a public pool. A Schulmeister (pronounce: ‘shool-mice-tah, i.e. master of the school) is the outdated term for a teacher; today it is used as a derogative for a narrowminded teacher. A Kapellmeister (pronounce: cup-‘pell-mice-tah, master of an orchestra) is a bandleader or conductor. And a Bürgermeister (pronounce approximately: ‘boor-gah-mice-tah, i.e. master of the citizens) is simply the mayor. There is a business in Kent that uses the term in a clever way of punning the term Bürgermeister:
You get the drift – the term Meister has nothing to do with teaching apprentices of any kind. It equals the term head. Just as a Weltmeister (pronounce: ‘velt-mice-tah, i.e. master of the world, aka world champion) tops the list in a specific discipline worldwide. In other words, either you’re a teacher or a whiz at something when you are called a Meister.
Some of you may also be familiar with the opera Die Meistersinger (pronounce: dee ‘mice-tah-zingah, meaning the master singers) by German composer Richard Wagner. These people used to be a German association of guild members who were masters in their trades. They competed against each other as amateurs in poetry and music between the 14th and the 16th century. To be honest, I only know parts of the opera, as Die Meistersinger are one of the longest operas that still get performed – a whopping five hours and 45 minutes (including intermissions)! I guess you have to be a Meister of sitting to attend such a lengthy presentation. It was last played in Melbourne, Australia, this February, by the way. I guess distance is my best excuse for not having tried for tickets.
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