Scribe

Pronunciation

Rhymes: -aÉªb

Origin

From Late Latin usage of scriba ("secretary") (used in Vulgate to render Ancient Greek Î³ÏÎ±Î¼Î¼Î±Ï„ÎµÏÏ‚ (grammateus, "scribe, secretary"), which had been used in its turn to render the Hebrew ×¡×•×¤×¨ ("writer, scholar")) from scribere ("to write, draw, draw up, draft (a paper), enlist, enroll, levy; orig. to scratch"), probably akin to scrobs ("a ditch, trench, grave").

Full definition of scribe

Noun

scribe

(plural scribes)

One who writes; a draughtsman; a writer for another; especially, an official or public writer; an amanuensis or secretary; a notary; a copyist.

14 September 2013, Jane Shilling, The Golden Thread: the Story of Writing, by Ewan Clayton, review [print edition: Illuminating language], The pleasure of writing on wax with a stylus is exemplified by the fine, flowing hand of a Roman scribe who made out the birth certificate of Herennia Gemella, born March 128 AD.

A person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession

2013, Henry Petroski, The Evolution of Eyeglasses, The ability of a segment of a glass sphere to magnify whatever is placed before it was known around the year 1000, when the spherical segment was called a reading stone,.... Scribes, illuminators, and scholars held such stones directly over manuscript pages as an aid in seeing what was being written, drawn, or read.

(archaic) A writer and doctor of the law; one skilled in the law and traditions; one who read and explained the law to the people.
A very sharp, steel drawing implement used in engraving and etching, a scriber.
A writer, especially a journalist.

Synonyms

Derived terms

scribal

Verb

To write.
To write, engrave, or mark upon; to inscribe.
To record.
To write or draw with a scribe.
(carpentry) To cut (anything) in such a way as to fit closely to a somewhat irregular surface, as a baseboard to a floor which is out of level, a board to the curves of a moulding, etc.; so called because the workman marks, or scribes, with the compasses the line that he afterwards cuts.
To score or mark with compasses or a scribing iron.