secretary

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈsek.rə.tər.i/, /ˈsek.rə.tri/, US /ˈsek.rə.ter.i/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English secretarie,^[2][3] borrowed from Medieval Latin sēcrētārius (“clerk, notary, scribe; confidential officer, confidant”),^[3][2] the noun use of an adjective meaning “private, secret”,^[3][4] from Latin sēcrētum (“a secret, a hidden thing”),^[3][2] the neuter of sēcrētus, the source of secret.^[5] Late Latin had a similar title, silentiārius “privy councillor”, from silentium “silence”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person entrusted with secrets or confidential matters, a confidant: before 1387, in Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon,^[2][6] a sense now obsolete.^[3]

Semantic evolution

One whose office is to write letters and keep records for another, originally for a king, is recorded by about 1400,^[3] probably before 1430 in Lydgate.^[2] The title of a minister at the head of a government department, as in Secretary of State, is from the 1590s, first in 1599.^[3][2] A style of handwriting used in old legal documents was called secretary from the 1570s.^[3] A writing desk is called a secretary from 1833, after French secrétaire.^[2][4] The South African secretary bird (1786) is said to be named for its crest, which looks like pens stuck behind an ear.^[3] Secretarial is from 1801, in Bentham,^[2] and secretariat from 1811.^[2][4] The verb, “to work as a secretary”, is from 1927.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1387 – a confidant.^[2][6]
• c. 1400 – one who writes for another.^[3][2]
• 1570s – secretary hand.^[3]
• 1599 – a minister of state.^[2]
• 1786 – secretary bird.^[3]
• 1801 – secretarial.^[2]
• 1833 – a writing desk.^[2]
• 1927 – verb, to work as a secretary.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person employed to deal with correspondence, keep files and do clerical work for another person or an organization.
2. An officer of a society or company who keeps records, takes minutes and answers letters.
3. An official at the head of a government department: Secretary of State.
4. A diplomat ranking below an ambassador.
5. A writing desk with a top section for books.

Word family

• secretarial
• secretaryship
• subsecretary
• undersecretary
• foreign secretary
• Home Secretary
• press secretary
• secretary bird

Related words

• secret
• secretion
• secretive
• secretory
• secretariat
• secrete
• secretaire

Usage notes

A separate obsolete secretary, from about 1440, meant a secret chamber or repository.^[6] The pronunciation with three syllables, /ˈsek.rə.tri/, is especially British.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b 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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster