'minute-taker' is a compound of 'minute' (in the sense of a brief written note or record) and 'taker' (an agent noun from 'take'). 'Minute' (record) ultimately comes from Late Latin 'minuta' meaning 'small (things/notes)', while 'take' comes from Old Norse 'taka' (to take), with the agentive suffix '-er' forming 'taker'.

'Minute' (as a brief written note) developed from Latin 'minuta' into Medieval and Early Modern English usage meaning 'brief notes' or 'small written records' (hence 'minutes' of a meeting). 'Take' entered English from Old Norse 'taka'; combining them produced the modern compound 'minute-taker' to denote the person who 'takes' those minutes.

Initially, 'minute' meant 'small' or 'a small note'; over time it came to mean a brief written record of proceedings ('minutes'), and 'minute-taker' came to mean 'one who records those minutes'.