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Show Origin of Clerk. A clerk, we have had occasion to point out, says the London Chronicle, is so called because he can read and write. The full etymological story connected with that is a striking example ex-ample of the adaptability of words. For the source of "clerk," "clerical" and "clergy" is a word that has nothing noth-ing 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 them-selves 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 familiar; fa-miliar; 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 com-mitted by any layman. |