Etymology

chamberlain

cham·ber·lain
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Today it means: A senior royal official in charge of superintending the arrangement of domestic affairs and often charged with receiving and paying out money kept in the royal chamber, especially in the United Kingdom and in Denmark. Full definition →

Middle English chamberlein ← Anglo-Norman chamberlenc ← Old French chamberlayn
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The story

  1. Frankish · derived from*kamarling“chamberlain”
  2. Old French · derived fromchamberlayn
  3. Anglo-Norman · derived fromchamberlenc
  4. Middle English · inherited fromchamberlein
  5. English todaychamberlain

From Middle English chamberlein, chaumberlein, chaumberleyn, from Anglo-Norman chamberlenc, Old French chamberlayn, chamberlenc (“chamberlain”), from Frankish *kamarling (“chamberlain”), equivalent to *kamer (“chamber”) + *-ling (“-ling”). Cognate with Old High German chamarling (“chamberlain”). Compare also Late Latin camerārius and comrade. More at chamber, -ling.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.