ETYMOLOGY

Meanings of words can shift around over the years. One meaning that has moved around more than most is bureau.

BUREAU: this started out as an old French word bure meaning green baize cloth. (meaning number 1). This was more often than not stuck on the flat bit of a writing desk. People started saying they were going to write on the bure and some other people, not too well up on cloths, thought it must mean the writing desk itself. (meaning number 2) and soon everybody thought it meant that. Then they started saying they were going to work on the writing desk and some other people not well up on furniture thought they must mean the office. (meaning number 3). It still means that in French. But then when people said they were going to work in the office some other people thought they meant the whole department. Hence it came to mean a large government department such as the FBI.

Nowadays in French le bureau means desk, office, department and la bure still means the cloth. In English, bureau as you know means writing desk, office (but not any old office, just things like information and travel bureaux) and the big government department.

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