chancellor

Definition

A senior secretary or official with administrative or legal duties, sometimes in charge of some area of government such as finance or justice.

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman or Middle English chaunceler, chanceler, canceler (“chief administrative or executive officer of a ruler; chancellor, secretary; private secretary, scribe; Lord Chancellor of England; officer of the ruler's exchequer; a high administrative or executive officer (for example, a deputy or representative of a bishop; the head of a university)”), from Old French cancelier, chancelier (“chancellor”), from Late Latin cancellārius (“secretary; doorkeeper, porter; usher of a court of law stationed at the bars separating the public from the judges”), from Latin cancellī (plural of cancellus (“grate; bars, barrier; railings”), diminutive of cancer (“grid; barrier”), from Proto-Italic *karkros (“enclosure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to bend, turn”)) + -ārius (suffix forming nouns denoting an agent of use). The word was present as Late Old English canceler, cancheler, from Norman cancheler, but was displaced in the 13th century by the Old French and Anglo-Norman forms mentioned above.

Example Sentences

• "Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster"
• "Lord Chancellor"
• "The 6ᵗʰ daye after, the Duke beyng infourmyd of myne arryvayle, sent his Chancellour to myne inne, desyryng to knowe the cause of my comying tether; […]"

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