The OED has [this page](Oxford Languages | The Home of Language Data) and it has a fairly long list of meanings. Master as owner is labeled “historical”, which is the point. There is also of course master bedroom, which comes from the lineage of master of the house, which comes from the lineage of owner, from which words like master of a ship come from, all tracing back to magister, which is the Latin for teacher which my years of Latin remind me (vaguely) comes from having more knowledge/ownership/control of.
Note that in the source you cited, one definition of “master” precisely applies to its use at Yale: “the head of a college”
It’s an old-fashioned term. Yale also uses the word “buttery” to describe its dorm kitchens. I had never heard that word used prior to my visit to Yale.
@bay:
Yeah, somehow “buttery” doesn’t describe the food I have had at college dorms, more like “yuckery” lol
I had to look up the word “buttery.” It actually has nothing to do with food; it derived from the french word for “bottle,” as it was the room where the wine bottles were stored, and was serviced by a “butler.”