Where does “official” come from?
Official comes from Latin officialis, formed from Latin ops meaning "work" or "effort" with the suffix -alis denoting relation or pertinence, ultimately deriving from Proto-Indo-European -yós.
official (English): Of or pertaining to an office or public trust;...
Definitions
- Of or pertaining to an office or public trust;...
Ancestry of “official”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle English | official | An underling of a member of the clergy, often... |
| 2 | Old French | official | court official; chamber pot; official; certified... |
| 3 | Latin | officiālis | official |
| 4 | Latin | officium | duty, service; office; obligation, an obligatory... |
| 5 | Latin | opificium | work |
| 6 | Latin | opifex | Someone who does work (especially creative or constructive); worker, maker, framer, fabricator, workman, mechanic, artificer, craftsman, inventor, artist, artisan |
| 7 | Latin | Ops | earth goddess, fertility deity |
| 8 | Latin | oscen | any bird by whose song cries augurs divined... |
| 9 | Latin | opscen | — |
| 10 | Latin | ob- | towards; against |
| 11 | Latin | obolus | obolus (Greek coin) |
| 12 | Ancient Greek | ὀβολός | obol, obolus, used at Athens as both a weight and... |
| 13 | Ancient Greek | ὀβελός | a spit, rod; a horizontal line |
| 14 | Ancient Greek | βέλος | missile, arrow, dart; weapon; something quickly... |
| 15 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷélHos | — |
| 16 | Proto-Indo-European | gʷelH- | to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing |