In the epics of Homer from Greek mythology, Odysseus was
away from home for 20 years. Before leaving he left his infant son, Telemachus,
under the guardianship of his friend, Mentor. Yes, Mentor was his name.
Now Athene, the Greek goddess of wisdom, and Odysseus were
part of a mutual admiration club. During his absence, she got into the body of
Mentor, and taught, guided, advised, mentored, & counselled
Telemachus. A few 100 years ago, the
term ‘mentor’ was 1st used to refer to a guide or counsellor.
Some time later, maybe a century, the word was ‘verbed’ (in
Calvinspeak) or verbalized. In the (v.) form it came to mean ‘guide’ or ‘counsel’.
Now comes all the other dis-figurations of the name of
Odysseus’ friend. If a guide is called a mentor, what do you call the person
being guided?
The term mentee seems to have entered some dictionaries. It
seems to have come out of the erroneous assumption that ‘mentor’ is a noun form
of the word ‘ment’. So you have the verb employ, giving rise to the nouns
employer & employee, referring to one who employs & one who is employed
respectively. Similarly ‘ment’ gives mentor & mentee.
But what if the root verb is not ment, but mentor? Would the
person who is being acted upon then be called a ‘mentoree’? Thankfully that
word doesn't seem to have entered the dictionaries. Yet.
And then later maybe the person ‘mentor’ing would be called
a mentorer? Have sometimes seen people get confused when the noun and verb are
spelled the same. As in sponsor. Have heard the word ‘sponsorer’ used a few
times. Am curious now – what would they
call the person being sponsored? Sponsee? Sponsoree?
Coming back to mentor & ___. Why not just use existing
words? You could have disciple or student. Either is better than mentee (Brings
connotations of someone on the mend after a stint in prison).
I’d prefer protégé (Add an e for the feminine form).
