Why is a race is for governor called a gubernatorial race?

Question

A race for senator is called a senatorial race, a race for congress is congressional and a race for president is called presidential. This doesn’t make sense to me

Answer 1

Here is a section form a website done by the Word Detective The article is titiled "I will not run unless chased" located at http://www.word-detective.com/061300.html



"Governor" and "gubernatorial" may not look as if they're related, but they are. The root of both was the Greek verb "kuberetes," meaning "helmsman of a ship," or, more metaphorically, "ruler." The Latin descendant of "kubernetes" was "gubernare," meaning "to rule," which gave us the English word "gubernator" (no kidding) around 1522, meaning "ruler." The adjective "gubernatorial," which appeared around 1734, at first meant "pertaining to a ruler or governor" in the generic sense of "governor," but today is almost always only used in reference to state officials bearing the formal title "Governor."



Now, if we back up a moment to that Latin word "gubernare," we find that it was also filtered through Old French to produce the word "governeur," meaning "ruler," which gave us the English word "governor" in the 14th century. So "governor" and "gubernatorial" are indeed very closely related.



Incidentally, the French also used the Greek "kubernetes" (ruler) to produce the word "cybernetique," meaning "the art of governing." In the late 1940s, the American mathematician Norbert Weiner appropriated and Anglicized "cybernetique" as "cybernetics" to describe his theory of communications. Writer William Gibson then modified Weiner's term in his 1984 science fiction novel "Neuromancer," coining everyone's least-favorite buzz-word, "cyberspace."

Answer 2

This is a question about the roots of the words. Both words go back to the same Latin root, gubernare 'to steer; to govern'. The word gubernatorial (an Americanism, by the way) was borrowed directly from the Latin gubernator 'a steersman; governor' in the eighteenth century, so it preserves the form of the Latin word. Governor, on the other hand, was borrowed in the thirteenth century from the Old French word governeor. This Old French word derives from the same Latin word, but it underwent the regular sound changes of Latin b to Old French v and Latin u to Old French o.

Answer 3

It looks odd because whoever coined it in the eighteenth century went back to the Latin original of the word governor, which is gubernator, and re-imported it. That word comes from the verb gubernare, to govern, but which originally meant to steer a ship, hence its figurative sense of “one who guides or leads"

Answer 4

Etymology: Latin gubernator governor, steersman, from gubernare to govern



http://aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary/gubernatorial



A better question would be why the English insist on calling a Count an Earl, but his wife is still a Countess.

Answer 5

...cuz two gubers are running?