Where does “officer” come from?
Officer comes from Middle English officer, from Old French officier, from Latin officio, derived from Latin officium meaning duty or function, ultimately from Latin ops meaning work or resources with the suffix -ium.
officer (English): One who has a position of authority in a...
Definitions
- One who has a position of authority in a...
Ancestry of “officer”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | officer | A hireling or subordinate; one employed to serve,... |
| 2 | Anglo-Norman | officer | officer |
| 3 | Latin | officiārius | officer |
| 4 | French | officier | to officiate; officer |
| 5 | German | Offizier | officer, commissioned officer; any chess piece... |
| 6 | Old French | officer | officer |
| 7 | Medieval Latin | officiarius | officer |
| 8 | Latin | officium | duty, service; office; obligation, an obligatory... |
| 9 | Latin | opificium | work |
| 10 | Latin | opifex | Someone who does work (especially creative or constructive); worker, maker, framer, fabricator, workman, mechanic, artificer, craftsman, inventor, artist, artisan |
| 11 | Latin | Ops | earth goddess, fertility deity |
| 12 | Latin | oscen | any bird by whose song cries augurs divined... |
| 13 | Latin | opscen | — |
| 14 | Latin | ob- | towards; against |
| 15 | Latin | obolus | obolus (Greek coin) |
| 16 | Ancient Greek | ὀβολός | obol, obolus, used at Athens as both a weight and... |
| 17 | Ancient Greek | ὀβελός | a spit, rod; a horizontal line |
| 18 | Ancient Greek | βέλος | missile, arrow, dart; weapon; something quickly... |
| 19 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷélHos | — |
| 20 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷelH- | to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing |