BUTLER (through the O. Fr. bouteillier, from the

See also:

• LATE

Late

See also:

• LAT

Lat. buticularius, buticula, a

See also:

• BOTTLE (Fr. bouteille, from a diminutive of the Lat. butta, a flask; cf. Eng. " butt ")

bottle)  , a domestic servant who superintends the wine-cellar and acts as the chief male servant of a household; among his other duties are the conduct of the service of the table and the custody of the plate . The butler of a royal household was an official of high rank, whose duties, though primarily connected with the supply of wine for the royal table, varied in the different courts in which the office appears, In England, as superintendent of the importation of wine, a duty was payable to him (see BUTLERAGE AND PRISAGE); the butler-ship of Ireland, Pincerna Hiberniae, was given by John, king of England, to Theobald Walter, who added the name of Butler to his own; it then became the surname of his descendants, the earls, dukes and marquesses of Ormonde (see BUTLER, family, above) .