Etymologically
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secretariat

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 13:45. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˌsɛk.ɹəˈtɛə.ɹɪ.ət/[1]
  • US: /ˌsɛk.ɹəˈtɛɚ.i.ət/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French secrétariat,[2][3][4][5][6] from Medieval Latin sēcrētāriātus (“the office of a secretary”),[2][3][4] from sēcrētārius (“clerk, notary, confidential officer”), the source of secretary,[3][2][7] with the Latin suffix -ātus.[5][2] The Medieval Latin word was a noun use of an adjective meaning "private, secret", from Latin sēcrētum (“a secret, a hidden thing”).[3] The variant secretariate was altered under the influence of the English suffix -ate.[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The office or position of a secretary, and the body of secretaries or the place where they keep records: 1811, in a letter of the Duke of Wellington.[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

From the office of a secretary, the word extended to the staff and the premises of such an office, and especially to the administrative department of a government or of an international body.[2][9][5] Etymonline dates to 1926 the sense, with a capital S, of a division of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, from the Russian equivalent.[3] Merriam-Webster's Unabridged also records a corps of secretaries or clerical staff in a business office.[5]

Timeline

  • 1811 – the office of a secretary; a secretarial department and its premises.[2][3][5]
  • 1926 – the Secretariat of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The administrative department of a government or an international organization, headed by a secretary: the United Nations secretariat.[5][10][11]
  2. The staff of such a department, or the building or rooms it occupies.[11][5][10]
  3. A body of secretaries; the clerical staff of an organization.[5][11][12]
  4. The office or position of a secretary.[5][10][11]

Word family

  • subsecretariat
  • undersecretariat

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ Gove, Philip Babcock, ed. (1961), Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam
  9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  10. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  11. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  12. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster