Rector comes from Latin rector ('ruler, governor, guide'), from regere ('to rule, direct, keep straight'), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ- ('to straighten, direct'). The historical chain includes Latin rector, Latin regere, and Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-. The quoted older senses, "ruler, governor, guide", "to rule, direct, keep straight", and "to straighten, direct", supply the semantic anchors for rector. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word rector carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a clergyman in charge of a parish or head of an institution". English derivatives include rectorate, rectorship, rectory, and rectorial; related English forms include rectify, rectitude, direct, and correct. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.