also camerlingo, "papal chamberlain," having charge of the secular interests of the papacy, 1620s, from Italian camerlingo "chamberlain" (see chamberlain).
Entries linking to camerlengo
chamberlain n.
mid-13c., chaumberlein, etymologically "person who manages a chamber or chambers," but by the time the word reached English it had been applied specifically to important royal officers of various duties, such as "one who attends a king or person of high rank in his or her private chamber," and especially "keeper of the treasure-chamber." It is from Old French chamberlenc "chamberlain, steward, treasurer" (Modern French chambellan), from a Germanic source (perhaps Frankish *kamerling; compare Old High German chamarling, German Kämmerling), from Latin camera "chamber, room" (see camera) + Germanic diminutive suffix -ling. The "chief financial officer of the king's household" sense is attested in English from mid-15c.