Officious

Officieusement being an adverb which turned up in the Maigret story of reference 1. An adverb which caught my attention because it turned out, in this context at least, to have a rather different meaning to the English 'officious'. So Larousse speaks of something which has some kind of official standing, but a standing which is a bit provisional, apt to be withdrawn. So Maigret, who happens to be on the spot, is told to get on with the investigation officieusement, pending the arrival of a proper person, from the proper part of the justice operation, that is to say from the Sûreté nationale, as opposed to the Police Judiciaire, to which last Maigret belongs. While Littré talks of meanings more like our officious.

Otherwise Office appears to be used in its original sense of service, as in, for example, Divine Office, and only describing a place in the case of the place from which service was delivered to the dining room, the place from which the butler operated. The translation of the ordinary English 'office' being bureau, otherwise the name of a bit of furniture, that is to say a desk. Echoed in English by the West Africa desk (for example) in secret services and newspapers. Whereas the Italians do it our way with their Uffizi.

Reference 1: L'auberge aux noyés - Simenon - 1938.