'Conductor' is Latin for 'one who leads together' — the musical sense arrived in the 18th century.
A person who directs the performance of an orchestra or choir; a material that transmits heat, electricity, or sound; a person who collects fares on a bus or train.
From Latin "conductor" meaning "one who hires or leads, a lessee, a contractor," agent noun from "conductus," past participle of "condūcere" (to lead together, to bring together, to hire), composed of "con-" (together, with) and "dūcere" (to lead, to draw). Latin "dūcere" derives from Proto-Indo-European *dewk- (to lead, to draw), one of the great leadership roots of the family. PIE *dewk- produced Old English "tēon" (to draw, to pull — from *teuhan), Gothic "tiuhan" (to lead), Old High German "ziohan" (to draw, to pull — modern German "ziehen"), Old Irish "do-ucc" (to bring), and possibly Albanian "ndjek" (to follow, to pursue). The word entered English
The baton-wielding conductor as we know the role is surprisingly recent. Before the nineteenth century, orchestras were led from within — by the first violinist (the 'concertmaster') or the harpsichordist. The first conductor to stand before the orchestra and direct with a baton was probably Louis Spohr in 1820. Jean-Baptiste Lully, one of the first stand-alone conductors, died in 1687 after stabbing his foot with the heavy staff he used to beat time — the wound became