registrar

Etymology

The OED, which revised the entry in 2009, takes it as formed from English register + -ar, with the third syllable dropped, after Medieval Latin registrārius (“one who keeps a record”).^[2] Etymonline, Barnhart and the AHD instead see a shortening of registrary, recorded from about 1541 and long obsolete except at Cambridge, which comes from the Medieval Latin word;^[3][4][5] the Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English derive it from the Latin directly,^[6][7] and Merriam-Webster as an alteration of registrer influenced by the Latin.^[8] The English word replaced the earlier registrer, recorded from the late 14th century, and registerer, from about 1475.^[3][4][9] The Medieval Latin word is from registrum (“register”),^[5][6][7] from Late Latin regesta (“list, matters recorded”), from regerō (“to record; literally, to carry back”), formed from re- (“back”) and gerō (“to carry, bear”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who keeps a register or record; an official recorder: 1571, in Grindal's Articles.^[2][8] Etymonline dates the word to the 1670s, Barnhart to 1675, and the Shorter Oxford to the late 17th century.^[3][4][6]

Semantic evolution

From a general keeper of records the word came to name particular officials.^[2][8] In some universities it has been the title of a senior administrative officer since 1706,^[2][3] and in the United States of the officer who registers students and keeps their records.^[8] From 1790 it was used of senior officials in charge of state records,^[2] and in Britain from 1834 of the local officer who keeps the register of births, marriages and deaths, and who now also conducts civil marriages.^[2] A hospital registrar (1836) was at first a junior doctor who kept the register of patients, and is now a middle-ranking doctor in training,^[2][10] and in some courts a registrar has had both administrative and judicial duties since 1851.^[2] Short-lived technical senses included struts in an organ (1840) and a rod in a chronograph (1872).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1475 – registerer, a recorder or historian.^[4][3]
• c. 1541 – registrary, a registrar.^[4]
• 1571 – an official recorder (OED); Barnhart dates the form to 1675.^[2][4]
• 1706 – a senior administrative officer in a university.^[2]
• 1790 – a senior official in charge of records.^[2]
• 1834 – in Britain, a local registrar of births, marriages and deaths.^[2]
• 1836 – a hospital doctor.^[2]
• 1851 – an officer of certain law courts.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An official who keeps a register or official records.^[10][8][2]
2. An officer of a college or university responsible for enrolling students and keeping their records.^[10][8][2]
3. (Britain) A local official who records births, marriages and deaths and conducts civil marriages.^[2]
4. (Britain, New Zealand) A hospital doctor senior to a house officer but junior to a consultant.^[10][2]
5. (law) An officer of certain courts with administrative and judicial duties.^[2][6]
6. (chiefly US) A bank or other agent appointed by a company to keep a register of its securities.^[10][8]

Word family

• registrarship

Related words

• register
• registry
• registration

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins