Chancellors

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A high-ranking official responsible for the administration of a government or legal system
2. a senior public servant overseeing educational institutions
3. a leader in charge of official diplomatic relations or negotiations

Etymology: Before it named the head of a government, "chancellor" was a doorkeeper. Its Latin source, "cancellarius," was a Late Latin term for an usher stationed at the grated barriers, the "cancelli," that separated the public from the judges in a court of law. The "cancelli" were lattice railings, and the word itself traces back to a Latin diminutive of "cancer," meaning grid or barrier. The same bars gave the chancel of a church its name, which is why "chancel" sits inside "chancellor." From the usher's post, the title gradually gained authority. Officials who controlled access to the court and its records came to manage its documents, and the title moved toward the rank of royal secretary and administrator. Medieval English speakers used the word for the chief administrative officer of a ruler, and for the head of a university. The word was present in Old English as "canceler," brought from Norman French, but in the 13th century it was displaced by the Old French form "chancelier," which English then adopted.

Synonyms: heads, leaders, directors, administrators, chiefs