secretarius

Latin

Etymology

First attested in the 11th century. From sēcrētus (“confided only to a few”, “secret”, “hidden”; “secluded”, “deserted”) +‎ -ārius (suffix forming agent nouns).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /seː.kreːˈtaː.ri.us/, [s̠eːkreːˈt̪äːriʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /se.kreˈta.ri.us/, [sekreˈt̪äːrius]

Noun

sēcrētārius m (genitive sēcrētāriī or sēcrētārī); second declension (Medieval Latin)

1. a privy councillor
2. a confidential clerk, scribe, or secretary
3. an officer charged with forestry duties, a forest official
4. a sacrist or sexton, a sacristan

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sēcrētārius	sēcrētāriī
Genitive	sēcrētāriī sēcrētārī1	sēcrētāriōrum
Dative	sēcrētāriō	sēcrētāriīs
Accusative	sēcrētārium	sēcrētāriōs
Ablative	sēcrētāriō	sēcrētāriīs
Vocative	sēcrētārie	sēcrētāriī

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Related terms

• sēcrētārium (Classical)

Descendants

• Afrikaans: sekretaris
• Asturian: secretariu
• Catalan: secretari
• English: secretary
• French: secrétaire, ségrayer, ségrairie
• Galician: secretario
• Italian: segretario
• Portuguese: secretário
• Romanian: secretar
• Russian: секрета́рь (sekretárʹ)
• Sicilian: sicritariu
• Spanish: secretario
• Turkish: sekreter

References

• secretarius in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• secretarius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• secretarius in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “secretarius (subst.)”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 950/2