TIMOTHY CLARK

English form, used in the Authorized Version of the Bible (alongside the Latin form Timotheus), of the Greek name Timotheos, from timē ‘honour’ + theos ‘god’. This was the name of a companion of St Paul; according to tradition, he was stoned to death for denouncing the worship of Diana. It was not used in England before the Reformation but has been in steady use since the 18th century.

English: occupational name for a scribe or secretary, originally a member of a minor religious order who undertook such duties. The word clerc denoted a member of a religious order, from Old English cler(e)c ‘priest’, reinforced by Old French clerc. Both are from Late Latin clericus, from Greek klērikos, a derivative of klēros ‘inheritance’, ‘legacy’, with reference to the priestly tribe of Levites (see Levy) ‘whose inheritance was the Lord’. In medieval Christian Europe, clergy in minor orders were permitted to marry and so found families; thus the surname could become established. In the Middle Ages it was virtually only members of religious orders who learned to read and write, so that the term clerk came to denote any literate man.