Re: Quick Question:


"Peter T. Daniels" <grammatim@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:1170389485.315868.302830@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Feb 1, 4:11 pm, "Wayne Brown" <awaynebr...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Heidi Graw wrote:
>>I came across a German abbreviation for a job description dated
>>1872.

>> "Geh. Secretair"

>> Does this mean "Gehalts Secretair?"

>> Does it have anything to do with accounting?

Wayne wrote:
Without seeing the job description, I'd say it refers to
"Geheimsecretair" (Geheimsekretär). The translation is just
"secretary" because "Geheim" is superfluous since it's already a
part of the meaning. Around the 15th century the Latin word
"secretarius," literally "Geheimschreiber," was in use to
describe a secretary who was entrusted with secrets in the
service of a king or other high official. Later the German forms
Secretair and Sekretär came into being, with the "Geheim" still
occasionally added. In rare cases, say, only if the contents of
the job description you have warrant it, it can be translated
"confidential secretary."

Peter wrote:
Why not "private secretary," i.e. not one who comes up from the
secretarial pool -- perhaps what today is called "personal assistant"?

Well...let's review what this guy did over the course of his career:

Over the years, the person who held that position claimed his occupation
as:

1872 - Geh. Secretair
1875 - Beamter
1876 - Geh. Kanzlei-Secretair
1898 - Rechn. Rath.

The word "Beamter" gives us a clue that he was an official of some kind.
I'm guessing he worked for the government.

"Rechnungs Rat" involves accounting in an advisory capacity...perhaps
something akin to a Certified General Accountant, or a Certified
Management Accountant.

The word "Kanzlei" gives us indication it involved a Council of some sort.

I'm thinking this guy was employed in the Ministry of Finance, perhaps
in a managerial capacity lending assistance to the Government's
Secretrary-Treasurer, or Finance Minister.

Does that make sense?

I'm not quite clear as to how government organized itself at that time
in Berlin, and what sort of government offices it had. I tried a 'net search,
but didn't get anywhere.

Heidi






.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Quick Question:
    ... Does this mean "Gehalts Secretair?" ... "Geheimsecretair". ... The translation is just ... 1872 - Geh. ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Quick Question:
    ... Does this mean "Gehalts Secretair?" ... Does it have anything to do with accounting? ... "Geheimsecretair". ... The translation is just ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Re: Quick Question:
    ... Does this mean "Gehalts Secretair?" ... What it means is accounting for all the dicks that have been up your ...
    (sci.lang)
  • Quick Question:
    ... "Geh. ... Does this mean "Gehalts Secretair?" ... Does it have anything to do with accounting? ...
    (sci.lang)
Quantcast