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) IPA^(key): /seː.kreːˈtaː.ri.us/, [s̠eːkreːˈt̪äːriʊs̠]

(Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /se.kreˈta.ri.us/, [sekreˈt̪äːrius]

Noun

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

a privy councillor
a confidential clerk, scribe, or secretary
an officer charged with forestry duties, a forest official
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
Catalan: secretari
English: secretary
French: secrétaire, ségrayer, ségrairie
Galician: secretario
Italian: segretario
Portuguese: secretário
Romanian: secretar
Russian: секретарь (sekretarʹ)
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 (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “secretarius (subst.)”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 950/2