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