CONCIERGE, in modern usage, a hall-porter or janitor, but originally the important guardian of a house or castle; in the middle ages a court official who was the custodian of a royal palace. In Paris, when the Palais de la Cite ceased about 136o to be a royal residence and became the seat of the courts of justice, the Conciergerie was turned into a prison. The word is of unknown origin ; the Latinized form was Concergius or Con cergerius.