Q.Define the term 'Secretary'. Explain its meaning.

The word 'secretary' comes from the Latin secretum ('a secret'), reflecting the trust historically placed in the office.

Every secretarial office, however small or large, rests on appointment by another authority and on being entrusted with confidential information not open to outsiders.

Origin and everyday meaning

The word 'secretary' traces to the Latin secretarius, from secretum — 'a secret.' Historically, the secretary was the person entrusted with an individual's or a body's confidential affairs, and that root sense of trust still defines the modern office. Today the title is used for roles ranging from a personal assistant to a business executive, to the secretary of a small club, to the senior compliance officer of a listed company — a wide range held together by a common function rather than a common job description.

Working definition

A secretary may be defined as a person appointed by an individual, an association, an institution, a co-operative body, a government department, or a company, to conduct its correspondence, maintain its records, organise its meetings, and carry out such administrative and, where applicable, statutory duties as are assigned, acting always within the authority given and in the interests of the appointing body.

The three elements common to every definition

1. Appointment — a secretary's office exists only because some individual, committee, or Board has created and filled it; it is never a freestanding position.
2. Agency and trust — a secretary acts on behalf of the appointing authority, not on personal account, and is given access to information not open to outsiders or even to the general membership.
3. Administrative-cum-communicative function — correspondence, record-keeping, and the organisation of meetings form the common thread running through every secretarial office, whatever else is added on top.

Conclusion

Because the same title covers such different levels of responsibility, 'secretary' is best understood as a family of related offices — private secretary, club/association secretary, co-operative-society secretary, local-body/government secretary, and company secretary — sharing this common core function while differing sharply in the legal weight, authority, and scope attached to the post.

Students often define 'secretary' narrowly as only an office typist or clerk, missing the appointment/agency/trust elements that make the definition apply equally to a company secretary with statutory responsibilities.