Chancellorship

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The title and responsibilities associated with the highest official in a university or governmental organization
2. The function of leading and managing a specific sector or area within a given institution as a chancellor
3. The role and authority held by a chancellor in overseeing an institution ; the duration during which one holds the office of chancellor

Etymology: The office of chancellor has a long pedigree, but the suffix that turns it into "chancellorship" is one of the oldest and most plainly English parts of the word. The noun "chancellor" came into English through Anglo-Norman "chauncelere" and Old French "cancelier", ultimately from Latin "cancellarius", an official who worked at the "cancelli" (lattice barriers) that separated a court or office from the public. Medieval clerks who guarded such barriers, and copied and checked documents, gave the title its original sense of a gatekeeper or secretary. The ending "-ship" is a separate story. It descends from Old English "-sċiepe", related to "scieppan", meaning to shape or create, and it originally carried the sense of a state, condition or quality. Words like "friendship" and "lordship" show this same older meaning. Middle English "-schipe" then became modern "-ship", so "chancellorship" is simply the chancellor's condition, or the period and office of holding that rank.

Synonyms: leadership, headship, office, position, administration