"Dr." is translated in Chinese as boshi 博士, scholar of broad knowledge. This is an old word, attested in Han empire histories (史记，汉书）. There was once a consonant at the end of the first syllable, and we still hear it in Japanese hakusei (博士）(more) #DrBiden

Boshi entered Korean similarly, where a Ph.D. today is 박사 bagsa. But in Vietnamese, the meaning of the term has narrowed, and a bác sĩ is a medical doctor (there's more! Witch doctors coming up... )

The ancient boshi entered Central Asian languages too, and from there spread widely. A Manchu baksi is a learned gentleman, and a Mongol багш today a teacher or scholar. But in Uyghur bakhshi still means a shaman, healer, which may be the original meaning: (more)

A Kyrghyz бакшы could be a witch, or in Soviet influenced dictionaries, a crack-pot. Then there is Bakhshi as honorific, title and surname widespread in Persianate world and South Asia where it's broadly associated with elites, Brahmins, Mughal officials. (more)

This is said to be from Persian بخش "part, section." I'm no Persianist, but I wonder if this isn't from our same old bakshi? (The title khan came all the way from Mongolia to become a South Asian surname, after all.)

In short, a bakshi / Ph.D. is a scholar, a healer, a witch doctor, an MD, a con-man or a brahman. That columnist in the WSJ, however, is not a bakshi. He's just an asshole. #DrJillBiden