receptionist 的詞源

"接待客戶的人，辦公室聘用的人"，1900年，來自 reception + -ist。

最初在攝影工作室中使用。

Let me not forget the receptionist — generally and preferably, a woman of refined and gentle manners, well informed and specially gifted in handling people of varied dispositions. A woman especially who knows how to handle other women, and who can make herself beloved by the children who may visit the studio. A woman, also, who in a thoroughly suave and dignified way, knows just how to handle the young man of the period so that the photographer may be glad to have his business. What a power the receptionist is when properly chosen and trained. It is not too much to say that she can both make and destroy a business, if she has the amount of discretionary power given to her in some galleries. [John A. Tennant, "Business Methods Applied in Photography," Wilson's Photographic Magazine, October 1900]

不要讓我忘記接待員——通常而且最好是一位有着優雅和溫和舉止的女性，博學多才，特別擅長處理不同性格的人。一位特別懂得如何處理其他女性，並且能夠讓可能來到工作室的孩子們喜歡她的女性。一位以完全溫和和有尊嚴的方式，知道如何處理當今年輕人，以便攝影師會很高興地接受他的業務的女性。當正確選擇和培訓時，接待員是多麼強大的力量。如果在某些畫廊中賦予她相當數量的自主權，不誇張地說，她既可以創造業務，也可以毀掉業務。[約翰·A·坦南特（John A. Tennant），《攝影中應用的商業方法》，《威爾遜攝影雜誌》（Wilson's Photographic Magazine），1900年10月]

早期在神學和法律中作爲形容詞使用（1867年）。