Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 May 1912 — Origin of Clerk. [ARTICLE]

Origin of Clerk.

A clerk, we have had occasion to point out, says the London Chronicle, is so called because be can read and write. v Tbe full etymological story connected with that is a striking example of the adaptability of words. For the source of “clerk,” “clerical” and “clergy” is a word that has nothing to do, necessarily, with either scholarship or priesthood—the Greek kleroc,” a lot. There are various, views as to the manner in which “clericus” was derived from this, some holding that the service of God was regarded as the lot or portion of the priests, others that they were themselves the portion of the Lord, and others that original choice of them by lot may be the explanation. The later developments of “clerk” are more famniar; our modern “clerk” comes from the fact that at one time the clergy alone could write. And so it is that a “clerical error” can be committed by any layman.