Etymologically
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cancellarius

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kaŋ.kɛlˈlaː.ri.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kan̠ʲ.t͡ʃelˈlaː.ri.us][1]

Forms

cancellārius m (genitive cancellāriī or cancellārī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cancellus (“lattice, grating”) + -ārius.[1][2] Lewis & Short and Georges derive it from the plural cancellī, the barriers or railings;[3][4][5] Niermeyer explains it as the attendant posted at the bar that separated a law court from the public.[3][4][5] Etymonline likewise says the official was so called because he worked behind a lattice in a basilica or law court.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A law of 354 in the Theodosian Code names cancellāriī beside the staff of the imperial bureaus.[2] Köbler gives the Historia Augusta as its first source: there the emperor Carinus makes one of his cancellāriī prefect of the city, which the TLL places under the original sense of doorkeeper.[7][2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the later Empire it was a minor official, at first a kind of usher at the barrier of a court or office, then a clerk or secretary.[3][4][5] Inscriptions and the Notitia dignitatum record such officials,[2] Cassiodorus writes to the cancellāriī of several provinces,[2][3] and the office lasted under the Ostrogoths and, in parts of Italy, until the 11th century.[5] Gregory of Tours tells of one of the royal cancellāriī taken ill with a fever.[2] A sermon ascribed to Fulgentius calls the angel Gabriel the chancellor of the heavenly palace.[2]

In the Middle Ages it became the scribe who drew up charters: at a count's court, in a monastery, in the royal chancery, and then the head of the chancery of the Carolingian rulers and of the pope.[5][8] English sources use it for the royal chancellor from the 11th century.[9] It also named a dignity in a cathedral chapter and the chancellor of a university.[5][9] Renaissance writers use it for a secretary as well as a chancellor.[10]

French chancelier and Italian cancelliere come from it,[2][11] and English chancellor came from it through Old French in the early 12th century.[6]

Timeline

  • 354 AD – A law in the Theodosian Code names cancellāriī beside the staff of the bureaus.[2]
  • 4th/5th century AD – The Historia Augusta uses it of a doorkeeper.[2][7]
  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus writes to the cancellāriī of the provinces.[2][7]
  • 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours mentions a royal cancellārius.[2][7]
  • early 12th century – English takes chaunceler, later chancellor, from French.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A doorkeeper, an usher at the barrier of a court.[3][4][5]
  2. (Late Latin) A secretary, clerk in a government office.[3][11][2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A scribe or notary who drew up charters.[5][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin) The head of a chancery; a chancellor (of a king, the pope, a bishop or a city).[5][8][9]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A dignitary of a cathedral chapter; the chancellor of a university.[5][9]

Usage notes

Georges and Lewis & Short give a separate adjective cancellārius from the scholia on Persius, of a thrush fattened behind bars.[4][3][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  10. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
  11. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier