secretary: [14] A secretary was originally a ‘person in someone else’s confidence, sharing secret or private matters with them’ (‘[Christ] taking with him his three special secretaries, that is to say Peter and James and John’, Nicholas Love, Mirror of the life of Jesus Christ 1400). The word was adapted from late Latin sēcrētārius ‘confidential aide’, a derivative of Latin sēcrētus ‘secret’. The notion of writing letters and performing other clerical duties developed in the Latin word, and first emerged in English in the 15th century. => secret
secretary (n.)
late 14c., "person entrusted with secrets," from Medieval Latin secretarius "clerk, notary, confidential officer, confidant," a title applied to various confidential officers, noun use of adjective meaning "private, secret, pertaining to private or secret matters" (compare Latin secretarium "a council-chamber, conclave, consistory"), from Latin secretum "a secret, a hidden thing" (see secret (n.)).
Meaning "person who keeps records, write letters, etc.," originally for a king, first recorded c. 1400. As title of ministers presiding over executive departments of state, it is from 1590s. The word also is used in both French and English to mean "a private desk," sometimes in French form secretaire. The South African secretary bird so called (1786) in reference to its crest, which, when smooth, resembles a pen stuck over the ear. Compare Late Latin silentiarius "privy councilor, 'silentiary," from Latin silentium "a being silent."
实用例句
1. The word "secretary" comes from the same Latin root as the word "secret".
单词secretary和secret有同样的拉丁词根。
来自柯林斯例句
2. The final word will still come from the Secretary of State.
最后仍然要由国务卿来定夺。
来自柯林斯例句
3. In an embarrassing climb-down, the Home Secretary lifted the deportation threat.
内务大臣尴尬地作出让步，解除了将其驱逐出境的威胁。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The Home Secretary is considering a new law against stalking.
内务大臣正考虑制定一项针对跟踪骚扰的新法律。
来自柯林斯例句
5. The Secretary of State has given in to special pleading.
