Where does “functionary” come from?
Functionary comes from French fonctionnaire, formed with the French suffix -aire from Latin -arius, derived from Latin functor meaning "one who performs," ultimately from Proto-Indo-European bʰewg-.
functionary (English): A person employed as an official in a bureaucracy...
Definitions
- A person employed as an official in a bureaucracy...
Ancestry of “functionary”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | French | fonctionnaire | civil servant, official |
| 2 | French | fonction | function; role |
| 3 | Middle French | function | function what something's intended use is |
| 4 | Latin | functiō | performance, execution (of a task) |
| 5 | Latin | -tiō | tion, -ation, -ing |
| 6 | Latin | dissertātiō | (spoken) dissertation, discourse, disquisition |
| 7 | Latin | dissertus | arranged, disposed; explained |
| 8 | Latin | disserere | second-person singular future passive indicative... |
| 9 | Latin | dis- | asunder, apart, in two; reversal, removal;... |
| 10 | Latin | calceus | shoe |
| 11 | Latin | calx | limestone; chalk; the finish line |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | χάλιξ | small stone, pebble; gravel, rubble |