Online Etymology Dictionary

official (n.): 1314, from O.Fr. official (12c.), from L. officialis "attendant to a magistrate, public official," noun use of officialis (adj.) "of or belonging to duty, service, or office," from officium (see office). Meaning "person in charge of some public work or duty" first recorded 1555. The adj. is first attested 1533, from O.Fr. oficial, from L. officialis. Officialese "language of officialdom" first recorded 1884.
bailiff: mid-13c., from O.Fr. baillif (12c., nom. baillis) "administrative official, deputy," from V.L. *bajulivus "official in charge of a castle," from L. bajulus "porter." Used in M.E. of a public administrator of a district, a chief officer of a Hundred, or an officer under a sheriff.
Urdu: official language of Pakistan, 1796, from Hindustani urdu "camp," from Turk. ordu (source of horde); short for zaban-i-urdu "language of the camp." Compare Dzongkha, a variant of Tibetan and the official language of Bhutan, lit. "the language of the fortress."
sheriff: late O.E. scirgerefa "representative of royal authority in a shire," from scir (see shire) + gerefa "chief, official, reeve" (see reeve). In Anglo-Saxon England, the representative of royal authority in a shire. As an American county official, attested from 1662; sheriff's sale first recorded 1798.
Bumble: "self-important petty official," 1856, from name of fussy, pompous, stupid beadle in Dickens' "Oliver Twist."
protocol: 1540s, as prothogall "draft of a document," from M.Fr. prothocole (c.1200), from M.L. protocollum "draft," lit. "the first sheet of a volume" (on which contents and errata were written), from Gk. protokollon "first sheet glued onto a manuscript," from protos "first" + kolla "glue." Sense developed in M.L. and M.Fr. from "official account" to "official record of a transaction," "diplomatic document," and finally, in Fr., to "formula of diplomatic etiquette." Meaning "diplomatic rules of etiquette" first recorded 1896, from French; general sense of "conventional proper conduct" is from 1952. "Protocols of the (Learned) Elders of Zion," Rus. anti-Semitic forgery purporting to reveal Jewish plan for world domination, first published in English 1920 under title "The Jewish Peril."
fed (n.): 1788, short for Federalist; as colloquial for “official of the federal government,” from 1916, especially, after 1930s, of FBI agents.
POSSLQ: 1979, acronym of person of opposite sex sharing living quarters; but it was never an official category.
red tape: "excessive bureaucratic rigmarole," 1736, in allusion to the red tape formerly used in Great Britain (and the Amer. colonies) for binding up legal and other official documents.
Catiline: from Lucius Sergius Catilina, Roman official who plotted an uprising 63 B.C.E. and was exposed by Cicero in a famous oration, taken since 1592 as a type of a reckless conspirator.
Tass: official news agency of the former U.S.S.R., an acronym of Rus. Telegrafnoje Agenstvo Sovjetskeho Sojuza "Telegraphic Agency of the Soviet Union."
hallmark: 1721, official stamp of purity in gold and silver articles, from Goldsmiths' Hall in London, site of the assay office. General sense of "mark of quality" first recorded 1864.
Pinkerton: "semi-official detective," 1888, from the detective agency begun in U.S. 1850 by Allan Pinkerton.
Newspeak: "artificial language of official communication in George Orwell's novel 'Nineteen Eighty-Four,' " 1949, from new + speak. Frequently applied to propagandistic warped English.
billet: 1590s, "to assign quarters to," earlier, as a noun, "official record or register" (M.E.), from Anglo-Fr. billette "list, schedule," dim. of bille (see bill (1)).
audit (n.): early 15c., from L. auditus "a hearing," pp. of audire "hear" (see audience). Official examination of accounts, which originally was an oral procedure. The verb is attested from 1550s.
tipstaff: 1540s, "tipped staff" (truncheon with a tip or cap of metal) carried as an emblem of office, from tip (n.) + staff. As the name of an official who carries one (esp. a sheriff's officer, bailiff, constable, court crier, etc.) it is recorded from 1560s.
stamp (n.): 1465, "stamping tool," from stamp (v.). Sense of "official mark or imprint" (to certify that duty has been paid on what has been printed or written) dates from 1542; transferred 1837 to adhesive labels issued by governments to serve the same purpose as impressed stamps. Stamp-collecting is from 1862.
communiqué: 1852, from Fr., originally pp. of communiquer "to communicate," from L. communicare (see communication). Originally the heading of official statements from the Fr. government.
reeve: "steward," O.E. gerefa, of unknown origin and with no known cognates. Not connected to Ger. Graf (see margrave). An Anglo-Saxon official of high rank, having local jurisdiction under a king. Cf. sheriff.
muezzin: "official who calls Muslims to prayer from the minaret of a mosque," 1585, from Arabic muadhdhin, properly active part. of adhdhana, frequentative of adhanna "he proclaimed," from uthn "ear." Eng. spelling is from dial. use of -z- for -dh-.
Quaker: 1651, said to have been applied to them in 1650 by Justice Bennett at Derby, from George Fox's admonition to his followers to "tremble at the Word of the Lord;" but the word was used earlier of foreign sects given to fits of shaking during religious fervor, and that is likely the source here. Either way, it was never an official name of the Religious Society of Friends. Quaker gun (1809, Amer.Eng.) was a log painted black and propped up to look from a distance like a cannon.
league (n.2): "distance of about three miles," late 14c., from L.L. leuga (cf. Fr. lieue, Sp. legua, It. lega), said by Roman writers to be from Gaulish. A vague measure (perhaps originally an hour's hike) never in official use in England, where the record of it is more often poetic than practical.
probate (n.): "official proving of a will," 1463, from L. probatum "a thing proved," neut. of probatus, pp. of probare "to try, test, prove" (see prove). The verb is recorded from 1792.
fitz: Anglo-Fr. fitz, from O.Fr. fils, from L. filius "son of" (see filial); used regularly in official rolls and hence the first element of many modern surnames; in later times used of illegitimate issue of royalty.
commissary: mid-14c., "one to whom special duty is entrusted by a higher power," from M.L. commissarius, from L. commissus "entrusted," pp. of committere (see commit). Originally ecclesiastical, the military sense of "official in charge of supply of food, stores, transport" dates to late 15c.
unofficial: 1798, from un- (1) "not" + official.
conservancy: 1755, "commission with jurisdiction over a port or river," from L. conservant-, prp. stem of conservare (see conserve); earlier was conservacy (mid-15c., Anglo-Fr. conservacie). Meaning "official preservation of undeveloped land" dates from 1859 (first reference is to protection of bo trees in Ceylon).
vice-president: 1574, "one who acts as a deputy for a president," from vice- + president. Made into an official rank and given a different meaning in the U.S. Constitution (1787).
"There seems to be no doubt of my election as V[ice] Pres[iden]t. It will have at least one advantage, that of permitting me to devote more of my time to my private affairs." [John C. Calhoun, letter to wife, Nov. 12, 1824]
credibility: 1590s, from M.L. credibilitas, from credibilis (see credible). Credibility gap is 1966, Amer.Eng., in reference to official statements about the Vietnam War.
lame duck: mid-18c., "any disabled person or thing;" especially Stock Exchange slang for "defaulter."
"A lame duck is a man who cannot pay his differences, and is said to waddle off." [Thomas Love Peacock, "Gryll Grange," 1861]
Sometimes also in naval use for "an old, slow ship." Modern sense of "public official serving out term after an election" is recorded by 1878 in Amer.Eng., from an anecdote published in that year of President Lincoln, who is alleged to have said, "[A] senator or representative out of business is a sort of lame duck. He has to be provided for."
pharmacopeia: "official book listing drugs and containing directions for their preparation, 1621, from medical L., from Gk. pharmakopoiia "preparation of drugs," from pharmakon "drug" + poiein "to make." First used as a book title by Anutius Foesius (1528-95) of Basel.
customer: 14c., "customs official;" later "buyer" (early 15c.), from Anglo-Fr. custumer, from M.L. custumarius, from L. consuetudinarius (see custom). More generalized meaning "a person with whom one has dealings" emerged 1540s; that of "a person to deal with" (usually wth an adjective, tough, etc.) is by 1580s. In Shakespeare, the word also can mean "prostitute."
predecessor: late 14c., "one who has held an office or position before the present holder," from L.L. prædecessorem (nom. prædecessor), c.420, from L. præ "before" + decessor "retiring official," from decess-, pp. stem of decedere "go away," also "die" (see decease). Meaning "ancestor, forefather" is recorded from c.1400.
vigilante: "member of a vigilance committee," 1856, Amer.Eng., from Sp. vigilante, lit. "watchman," from L. vigilantem (see vigilance). Vigilant man in same sense is attested from 1824 in a Missouri context. Vigilance committees kept informal rough order on the frontier or in other places where official authority was imperfect.
Porte: "Ottoman court at Constantinople," 1609, from Fr., la Sublime Porte, translation of Arabic bab-i-'aliy, lit. "lofty gate," official name of the central office of the Ottoman government (cf. Vatican for "the Papacy," Kremlin for "the U.S.S.R."). Supposedly a ref. to the ancient custom of holding royal audience in the doorway of a king's palace or tent.
variance: mid-14c., "fact of undergoing change," from O.Fr. variance, from L. variantia, from variare "to change" (see vary). Meaning "state of disagreement" is recorded from early 15c. The U.S. zoning sense of "official dispensation from a building regulation" is recorded from 1925.
cyclone: 1848, coined by British East India Co. official Henry Piddington to describe the devastating storm of December 1789 in Coringa, India, from Gk. kyklon "moving in a circle, whirling around," prp. of kykloun "move in a circle, whirl," from kyklos "circle" (see cycle). Applied to tornados from 1856.
proctor: late 14c., contraction of procurator (late 13c.), "official agent of a church or holy order," from O.Fr. procuratour (13c.), from L. procuratorem "manager, agent, deputy," from procurare (see procure).
laureate: late 14c., from L. laureatus "crowned with laurels," from laurea "laurel crown" (emblematic of victory or distinction in poetry), from fem. of laureus "of laurel," from laurus "laurel." Laureat poete first found in "Canterbury Tales;" the first official one was probably Ben Jonson (1638), though the first recorded one was Dryden (1668). Extended to Nobel prize winners, 1947.
mufti: 1586, muphtie "official head of the state religion in Turkey," from Ar. mufti "judge," active participle of afta "to give," conjugated form of fata "he gave a (legal) decision." Sense of "ordinary clothes (not in uniform)" is from 1816, perhaps from mufti's costume of robes and slippers in stage plays, which was felt to resemble plain clothes.
tariff: 1591, "arithmetical table," from It. tariffa, M.L. tarifa "list of prices, book of rates," from Arabic ta'rif "information, notification, inventory of fees to be paid," verbal noun from arafa "to make known." Meaning "official list of customs duties on imports or exports" is from 1592; sense of "classified list of charges made in a business" is recorded from 1757.
shire: O.E. scir "administrative office or district," from P.Gmc. *skizo (cf. O.H.G. scira "care, official charge"). Ousted since 14c. by Anglo-Fr. county (q.v.). The gentrified sense is from The Shires (1796), used by people in other parts of England of those counties that end in -shire; sense transferred to the hunting country of the Midlands (1860).
tribune: late 14c., "official in ancient Rome," from L. tribunus "magistrate" (specifically one of the officers appointed to protect the rights and interests of the plebeians from the patricians), originally "head of a tribe," from tribus (see tribe). The meaning "raised platform" is 1762, from It., from L. tribunal "platform for the seats of magistrates in ancient Rome."
tribunal: 1447, from O.Fr. tribunal (13c.), from L. tribunal "platform for the seat of magistrates, elevation, embankment," from tribunus "official in ancient Rome, magistrate," lit. "head of a tribe," from tribus (see tribe). Hence, a court of justice or judicial assembly (1590).
basilica: 1540s, from L. basilica "building of a court of justice," and, by extension, church built on the plan of one, from Gk. (stoa) basilike "royal (portal)," the portico of the archon basileus, the official who dispensed justice in Athens, from basileus "king" (see Basil). In Rome, applied specifically to the seven principal churches founded by Constantine.
placard: 1481, "formal document authenticated by an affixed seal," from M.Fr. placquard "official document with a large, flat seal," also "plate of armor," from O.Fr. plaquier "to piece together, stick, plaster," from M.Du. placken "to patch" (a garment), "to plaster," related to placke "patch, stain." Meaning "poster" first recorded 1560, though this sense is in M.Fr. from 15c.
install: 1548, "place in (ecclesiastical) office by seating in an official stall," from M.L. installare, from L. in- "in" + M.L. stallum "stall," from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. stal "standing place;" see stall (1)). Installation "act of setting up" (machinery, etc.) is first recorded 1882.
visa: 1831, "official signature or endorsement on a passport," from Fr. visa, from Mod.L. charta visa "verified paper," lit. "paper that has been seen," from fem. pp. of L. videre "to see" (see vision). Earlier visé (1810), from Fr. pp. of viser "to examine, view."
hotel: 1644, "public official residence," from Fr. hôtel, from O.Fr. hostel "a lodging," from M.L. hospitale "inn" (see hostel). Modern sense of "an inn of the better sort" is first recorded 1765. Hotelier is a 1905 borrowing of Fr. hôtelier "hotelkeeper."