clerk: [11] Clerk and its relatives cleric and clergy owe their existence ultimately to a Biblical reference, in Deuteronomy xviii 2, to the Levites, members of an Israelite tribe whose men were assistants to the Temple priests: ‘Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the Lord is their inheritance’. Greek for ‘inheritance’ is klēros, and so it came about that matters relating to the Christian ministry were denoted in late Greek by the derived adjective klērikós.
This passed into ecclesiastical Latin as clēricus, which was originally borrowed into late Old English as cleric or clerc, later reinforced by Old French clerc to give modern English clerk. Its presentday bureaucratic connotations, which emerged in the 16th century, go back to an earlier time when members of the clergy were virtually the only people who could read or write.
However, religious associations have of course been preserved in cleric [17], from ecclesiastical Latin clēricus, and clergy [13], a blend of Old French clergie (a derivative of clerc) and clerge (from the ecclestiastical Latin derivative clēricātus). The compound clergyman is 16th century. => cleric, clergy
clerk (n.)
"man ordained in the ministry," c. 1200, from Old English cleric and Old French clerc "clergyman, priest; scholar, student," both from Church Latin clericus "a priest," noun use of adjective meaning "priestly, belonging to the clerus" (see cleric).
Modern bureaucratic usage is a reminder of the dark ages when clergy alone could read and write and were employed for that skill by secular authorities. In late Old English the word can mean "king's scribe; keeper of accounts;" by c. 1200 clerk took on a secondary sense in Middle English (as the cognate word did in Old French) of "anyone who can read or write." This led to the sense "assistant in a business" (c. 1500), originally a keeper of accounts, later, especially in American English, "a retail salesman" (1790). Related: Clerkship.
clerk (v.)
"act as a clerk," 1550s, from clerk (n.). Related: Clerked, clerking.
双语例句
1. A stupid medical clerk had slipped the wrong tab on his X-ray.
一个蠢笨的医护人员一不留神在他的X光片上贴错了标签。
来自柯林斯例句
2. "I've come to reclaim my property," she announced to the desk clerk.
“我来要求归还我的房产，”她向接待人员宣布。
来自柯林斯例句
3. It was strange, how invisible a clerk could feel.
一名办事员会感到如此受人忽视，令人觉得不可思议。
来自柯林斯例句
4. A clerk simply verifies that the payment and invoice amount match.
职员只是核实付款和发票上的数额是否一致。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Betty started as a shipping clerk at the clothes factory.
