Where does “officier” come from?
officier (French) comes from German Offizier, from Old French officer, from Medieval Latin officiarius, from Latin officium, from Latin opificium, from Latin opifex, from Latin Ops, from Latin oscen — to throw, reach, pierce; to hit by throwing.
officier (French): to officiate; officer
Definitions
- to officiate; officer
Ancestry of “officier”, step by step
officier traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via German Offizier
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | German | Offizier | officer, commissioned officer; any chess piece... |
| 2 | Old French | officer | officer |
| 3 | Medieval Latin | officiarius | officer |
| 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 |
via Latin officiō
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Latin | officiō | to obstruct, hinder, block |