Etymologically
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registrar

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 21:14. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹɛd͡ʒ.ɪsˌtɹɑɹ/[1]

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

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