clerk

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /klɑːk/, US /klɝːk/^[1]

Etymology

It is partly inherited from Old English cleric (“clergyman”) (about 975)^[2][3] and partly Old French clerc (“clergyman, scholar”),^[2][4][3] both from Late Latin clēricus (“a priest”) (see cleric),^[2][4][5] from Greek κληρικός (klērikós), from κλῆρος (klêros), lot, inheritance, clergy.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A member of the clergy, a priest: about 975 in the OED, probably before 1200 in the spelling clerc.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Because in the Middle Ages learning was often limited to the clergy, who did the writing and secretarial work, clerk came to mean a scribe, and by about 1200 any person of book learning who could read and write.^[2][4][6] From there it passed to an assistant who keeps accounts (1512 in Barnhart, about 1500 in Etymonline)^[2][4] and an officer of a court or town who keeps records (the 1520s).^[4] In American English a clerk is also a shop assistant (1790), and a hotel desk clerk from 1879.^[4] The spelling and pronunciation clark appear in the 15th century,^[3] and the British pronunciation /klɑːk/ continues them.^[1] The verb is from 1551.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 975 – a clergyman.^[6][2]
• c. 1200 – a scholar, a literate man.^[6][4]
• 1512 – an office clerk.^[2]
• 1520s – a court or town clerk.^[4]
• 1790 – a shop assistant (US).^[4]
• 1879 – a hotel clerk.^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An office worker who keeps records, handles correspondence and files.
2. An official who keeps the records of a court, council or legislature: a town clerk.
3. (US) A salesperson in a shop, or a hotel receptionist.
4. (archaic) A cleric or a scholar.

Verb

1. To work as a clerk.

Word family

• clerkdom
• clerkship
• clerkish
• clerklike
• clerkly
• subclerk
• underclerk
• law clerk

Related words

• clergy
• clergyman
• cleric
• clerical

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press