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.
例文
1. A stupid medical clerk had slipped the wrong tab on his X-ray.
愚かな医療関係者がうっかりX線写真にラベルを貼り間違えてしまった。
2."I 've come to reclaim my property，"she announced to the desk clerk .
「私は私の家を返すように要求します」と彼女は受付係に宣言した。
3.It was strange,how invisible a clerk could feel.
このように無視されていると感じている事務員がいるのは不思議です。
4.A clerk simply verifies that the payment and invoice amount match.
従業員は、支払いと請求書の金額が一致しているかどうかを確認しているだけです。
5.Betty started as a shipping clerk at the clothes factory.