Other forms: pursers
The purser is the senior cabin crew member on a flight. Ask the purser, the purser announced, a cabin purser.
The job is running the cabin and the crew rather than serving, and the purser is the person the captain deals with about anything happening behind the flight deck door. At sea the purser handles money and stores, which is the older job and where the name comes from — a purser keeps the purse.
1nounpurserThe senior cabin crew member on a flight or ship.
“The purser welcomed passengers aboard and showed them to their cabins.”
purser is a crew role.
Ancient Greek
βύρσα — hide, wine-skin
Medieval Latin
bursa — leather bag
Proto-Germanic
*pusô — bag, sack, scrip
Proto-West Germanic
*pusō
Old English
purs — purse
Middle English
purs
English
purse
English, today
purser
Built from
From purse + -er. purse comes from Middle English purs, from Old English purs (“purse”), partly from pusa (“wallet, bag, scrip”) and partly from burse (“pouch, bag”). Old English pusa comes from Proto-West Germanic pusō, from Proto-Germanic pusô (“bag, sack, scrip”), and is cognate with Old High German pfoso (“pouch, purse”), Low German puse (“purse, bag”), Old Norse posi (“purse, bag”), Danish pose (“purse, bag”). Old English burse comes from Medieval Latin bursa (“leather bag”) (compare English bursar), from Ancient Greek βύρσα (“hide, wine-skin”). Compare also Old French borse (French bourse), Old Saxon bursa (“bag”), Old High German burissa (“wallet”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA