Etymologically
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office

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈɒf.ɪs/, US /ˈɑː.fɪs/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English office (earlier offiz),[2] borrowed from Old French office (Anglo-French ofice)[3][2] and directly borrowed from Latin officium (“service, duty, function”).[3][2][4] Officium is contracted from *opificium (“work-doing”),[3][5][6] from opus (“work”) and the stem of facere (“to do”).[7][4][8] In Medieval Latin it also meant a church service.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An official post or position with duties attached: about 1250, in The Story of Genesis and Exodus.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

A duty or function, or a service done for someone, is recorded probably before 1300,[2][9] and the phrase good offices keeps the sense “kindness, service”.[9] About 1300 office also meant a church service or the set form of one,[3] and it was used of church positions from the late 14th century.[3] “A place where business is done” appears in the late 14th century, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (about 1395).[2][3] A government department is an office from the mid-15th century,[3] and since 1727 the word has also been a euphemism for a privy.[3] Office-holder is from 1818 and office hours from 1841.[3] Officer dates from the 14th century,[8] and officious first meant “eager to serve”, taking its negative sense at the end of the 16th century.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1250 – an official post.[2]
  • before 1300 – a duty or function.[2]
  • c. 1300 – a church service.[3]
  • 14th century – officer.[8]
  • c. 1395 – a place of business (Chaucer).[2]
  • mid-15th century – a government department.[3]
  • 1727 – a privy.[3]
  • 1841 – office hours.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A room or building where business, clerical or professional work is done.
  2. The staff who work in such a place.
  3. A position of authority or trust, especially in government.
  4. A duty or function: the office of host.
  5. A department or major division of government.
  6. (usually plural) A service done for someone: through the good offices of a friend.
  7. (Christianity) A set form of liturgical worship.

Word family

  • officeless
  • officeholder
  • officer
  • official
  • officiate
  • officious
  • opus
  • operate
  • fact

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press