the.com/minister
a job title that means servant, despite the limos and the bodyguards
means A minister is a senior official appointed to lead a government department, or a member of the clergy who leads worship and tends a congregation.
from Straight from Latin minister, meaning 'servant, attendant, subordinate' — itself built on minus, 'less,' so a minister was literally 'the lesser one,' the underling who served. It's the exact mirror of 'magister' (master), which grew from magis, 'more.' The word carried this humble sense into church Latin for those who served God and flock, then into politics for those who served the crown — though, as the essence notes, the servant has acquired rather a lot of limousines along the way. (English 'minus' and 'minister' are thus distant cousins, both rooted in 'less.')
- latin roots
- from minister, meaning servant or attendant
- church too
- same word runs governments and pulpits alike
- prime origin
- prime minister once meant the monarch's chief servant
- ministry sprawl
- the noun spawned ministries, vast bureaucratic empires
winston churchill — british prime minister who led uk through world war ii, 1940-1945
margaret thatcher — british prime minister who served 1979-1990, longest-serving pm of 20th century
lee kuan yew — prime minister of singapore 1959-1990, transformed it from colonial port to developed nation