Etymologically
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ministry

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈmɪn.ɪ.stri/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ministerie, menstre,[2][3] perhaps from Old French menistere “service; position, post”[2][3] and directly borrowed from Latin ministerium (“office, service, attendance”),[2][3][4] from minister (“servant, inferior; a priest's assistant”),[2][3][5] the source of minister.[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Service in religious matters, the office of a priest: about 1200.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Personal service or aid is from the late 14th century,[2] and the OED has the action of ministering, the rendering of service, from 1382, in the Wycliffe Bible.[6][3] The body of ministers of religion, the clergy, is from the 1560s.[2][6] Agency, the condition of being employed as an instrument, is from 1581.[6] The body of ministers of state in a country is from 1710,[2][6] and in 1916 the word began to be used in the names of British government departments.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – religious service.[2][3]
  • 1382 – the action of ministering.[6]
  • 1560s – the clergy.[2][6]
  • 1710 – the ministers of state.[2][6]
  • 1916 – a government department.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The profession, duties and service of a minister of religion.
  2. The Christian clergy; the ministers of a church as a body.
  3. The period of service of a minister.
  4. A government department headed by a minister: the Ministry of Defence.
  5. The act of serving; ministration.

Word family

  • underministry
  • ministerial

References

  1. ^ 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 j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press