Last night somebody asked me why we call the heads of Cabinet Departments the Secretary (of State, Defense, Education, etc.) I looked it up and it was quite interesting.
Etymology
The term is derived from the Latin word secernere, "to distinguish" or "to set apart," the passive participle (secretum) meaning "having been set apart," with the eventual connotation of something private or confidential. A secretarius was a person, therefore, overseeing business confidentially, usually for a powerful individual (a king, pope, etc).
Origins
Since the Renaissance until the late 19th century, men involved in the daily correspondence and the activities of the mighty had assumed the title of secretary (or in other cases, "clerk").
With time, like many titles, the term was applied to more and varied functions, leading to compound titles to specify various secretarial work better, like general secretary, financial secretary or Secretary of state. Just "secretary" remained in use either as an abbreviation when clear in the context or for relatively modest positions such as administrative assistant of the officer(s) in charge, either individually or as member of a secretariat.
Wikipedia is wonderful
3 comments:
It WAS fun, and we in the eastern Iowa corridor are tickled that you and Kurt made the trip to join us. PGM Mosier was right on the money when he noted that "formal" Masonry and good fun and fellowship aren't mutually exclusive.
When we passed the basket of fraternal assistance, we raised well more than $100 to aid a worthy brother in distress and his family. That, too, is what we do.
Several of these kinds of affairs a year--around the state--wouldn't be a bad idea!
And as Kurt said on the way home having you walk in was the icing on the cake. We both like cake but we like it iced.
About that pesky word "secretary":
I always thought that implicit in the word was an expectation that a secretary was also someone who could maintain confidentiality — e.g., someone one could trust with secrets.
In the days when only secretaries or clerks (related to the word "cleric") were literate, they were in charge of confidential correspondence at all levels of diplomacy.
Leastwise, that's how I larned it...
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