Etymology

notary

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Today it means: A lawyer of noncontentious private civil law who drafts, takes, and records legal instruments for private parties, and provides legal advice, but does not appear in court on his or her clients' behalf. Full definition →

Middle English notarie ← Old French notarie ← Latin notārius
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromnotārius
  2. Old French · derived fromnotarie
  3. Middle English · inherited fromnotarie
  4. English todaynotary

From Middle English notarie, from Old French notarie (French notaire), from Latin notārius.

Words from the same roots

Latinnotārius all →

prothonotary

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.