secrétaire French · revision 38558

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1180, Vie de saint Évroult|origins=la sēcernō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /sə.kʁe.tɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''secrétaire''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural secrétaires)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la-med|sēcrētārius|t=secretary; one present at secret councils]], from [[m|la|sēcrētum|t=secret]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|11, 373a) Rey and the Grand Robert also point to [[la-lat|sēcrētārium|t=secluded place; sacristy; audience hall]], from [[la|sēcrētus|t=separated, secret]], the past participle of [[m|la|sēcernō|t=to set apart]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) In Latin the adjective was used as a noun for the sacristan in the 5th century and then for a secretary at court.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ 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.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Littré records an older pronunciation ⟨segrétaire⟩.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==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.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi) The sense “confidant, keeper of secrets” is recorded in 1265 and lasted into the 17th century, in Malherbe and Corneille.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==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.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Secrétaire d'État'', made on the model of [[es|secretario de estado]], was the title of the king's ministers in the 16th and 17th centuries.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) 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.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ 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.^(TLFi) The derivatives include ''secrétairerie'' (1568), [[secrétariat]] (1587) and [[sous-secrétaire]] (1680).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1180 – Recorded in the sense “tabernacle”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1265 – Used for a confidant.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1370 – A person who writes letters for another, ''secrétaire et notaire du roi''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – ''Secrétaire d'État'' in the treaty between France and Spain.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – Monet records the secretary of an assembly.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1745 – A writing desk, in an inventory at Marseille.^(TLFi)

+ * 1775 – The secretary bird.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|secretary]]: a person employed to handle another's correspondence, appointments and files.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A person who keeps the records and runs the business of an assembly, society or party, ''secrétaire général'': the chief administrator.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Secrétaire d'État'': a junior minister in France; the foreign minister of the United States or of the Vatican.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(historical)'' A person attached to a person of high rank to write official letters.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(masculine)'' A writing desk with drawers and a writing flap, a [[m|en|secretaire]].^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(masculine)'' The [[m|en|secretary bird]], an African bird of prey.^(TLFi)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' A [[m|en|confidant]].^(Littré 1873)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[secrétairerie]]

+ * [[secrétariat]]

+ * [[sous-secrétaire]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[secret]]

+ * [[la|sēcrētus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}