Etymologically
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secrétaire

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Pronunciation

  • /sə.kʁe.tɛʁ/[1]

Forms

secrétaire m or f by sense (plural secrétaires)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin sēcrētārius (“secretary; one present at secret councils”), from sēcrētum (“secret”).[2][3][1][4] Rey and the Grand Robert also point to Late Latin sēcrētārium (“secluded place; sacristy; audience hall”), from Latin sēcrētus (“separated, secret”), the past participle of sēcernō (“to set apart”).[5][6][7] In Latin the adjective was used as a noun for the sacristan in the 5th century and then for a secretary at court.[5]

The first date differs: the GLLF, the Grand Robert and Rey give about 1180, in the sense “tabernacle”, while the TLFi dates the word to about 1330 and places that text in the 14th century.[3][6][5][8] Littré records an older pronunciation ⟨segrétaire⟩.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Vie de saint Évroult it is the place where precious things, such as relics, are kept; the Grand Robert and the GLLF date it about 1180, the TLFi to the 14th century.[6][3][8] The sense “confidant, keeper of secrets” is recorded in 1265 and lasted into the 17th century, in Malherbe and Corneille.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

From the 14th century the word named a person attached to someone of high rank to write their letters (about 1350–1370), and secrétaire du roi an officer who signed letters of the chancery.[8][5] Secrétaire d'État, made on the model of Spanish secretario de estado, was the title of the king's ministers in the 16th and 17th centuries.[2][5] Since the 17th century (1636) it has also been the person who keeps the records and organizes the business of an assembly or society, and more widely anyone who writes for another; the feminine use for this sense appears at the end of the 18th century.[5][3]

A writing desk with drawers is so called from 1745, in an inventory at Marseille, and the secretary bird from 1775, after its crest, like a pen behind a clerk's ear.[8] The derivatives include secrétairerie (1568), secrétariat (1587) and sous-secrétaire (1680).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1180 – Recorded in the sense “tabernacle”.[6][3][5]
  • 1265 – Used for a confidant.[6][5]
  • 1370 – A person who writes letters for another, secrétaire et notaire du roi.[8]
  • 1559 – Secrétaire d'État in the treaty between France and Spain.[8]
  • 1636 – Monet records the secretary of an assembly.[3]
  • 1745 – A writing desk, in an inventory at Marseille.[8]
  • 1775 – The secretary bird.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A secretary: a person employed to handle another's correspondence, appointments and files.[1][7]
  2. A person who keeps the records and runs the business of an assembly, society or party, secrétaire général: the chief administrator.[3][8]
  3. Secrétaire d'État: a junior minister in France; the foreign minister of the United States or of the Vatican.[7][8]
  4. (historical) A person attached to a person of high rank to write official letters.[7][8]
  5. (masculine) A writing desk with drawers and a writing flap, a secretaire.[1][8]
  6. (masculine) The secretary bird, an African bird of prey.[8]
  7. (obsolete) A confidant.[9][6]

Word family

  • secrétairerie
  • secrétariat
  • sous-secrétaire

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 373a
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette