With all the recent headlines about government secretaries, I found myself wondering how secret and secretary are related. As it turns out, they are very closely connected.
Both words trace back to the Latin root secretum, meaning something set apart, hidden, or private.
Originally, a secretary was not simply someone who typed letters or kept calendars. A secretary was a trusted person who managed confidential matters, literally someone entrusted with secrets. In Medieval Latin, the term secretarius referred to an official handling private affairs for a ruler or noble. By both title and function, secretaries were keepers of secrets.
Over time, the word shifted. Today, we no longer use secretary as a professional title in most contexts, except in government. In business, secretary has been replaced with roles like assistant or executive administrator. This kind of linguistic recategorization can be frustrating for English learners, much like when “stewardess” gave way to “flight attendant.”
Still, to be the Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense carries no diminishment. The title signals authority and responsibility, not clerical support. Likewise, the UK’s Minister of Foreign Affairs is not assumed to be a religious figure. Both words are shaped by history and context.
Minister itself comes from the Latin minus, meaning lesser or subordinate. A minister, whether in government or religion, is one who serves a higher purpose, whether that is the state, the public, or God.
And what about secrete? It also comes from the same Latin root, with the sense of “to separate.” The word took on a biological meaning and has been stuck there ever since. It may be an etymological cousin, but one that lives in a very different neighborhood.