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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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This morning, I got to thinking about some of the different ways we use "scribe". Circumscribe, proscribe, describe--please list more. But what I'm wondering is how, or whether, all of these uses somehow relate to what I consider the primary def. of scribe: one who writes.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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They all relate back to the Latin verb scribere, to write. One can assume a writer, but that isn't necessarily implicit in the etymology.
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old hand
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old hand
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Scrivener Inscribe Script
Or did you only want those specifically with 'scribe' in them?
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Some of these are straightforward from the preposition: inscribe, describe (write about).
Sometimes the visual imagery is fairly obvious:
subscribe = write one's name down on a list under other people's names prescribe = write down beforehand, for someone else to use
Others you really need to know the circumstances in ancient Rome for them to make sense:
conscript(ion) = enrolling, writing down on a roll with other people's names proscribe = write down publicly, to inform people of a ban (pro- "forward" being used unusually for "public", if my good book is to be believed)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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scribblative cacoëthes scribendi stelliscript -joe (indescribable) friday
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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And we all suffer from cacoethes scribendi.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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proscribe = write down publicly, to inform people of a ban Ok, thank you. How about circumscribed? I'll tell you what prompted me down this thought path. A friend was talking about keeping her grandbaby, and I got to thinking what circumscribed lives toddlers lead; for ex., they don't particularly feel closed in when they stay in one room for an entire day. To me, this usage means boundaries; not anything to do with writing that I can see.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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circumscribe - from L. circumscribere to draw a line round, encompass, limit, confine, etc., f. circum around + scribere to make lines, write
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks! Yeah, isn't it neat, all these uses? From one (ultimate) source that people must have considered darned important. I gather that scribblative must mean written? What are cacoëthes scribendi and stelliscript, please? A scrivener is...someone who writes?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A scrivener is...someone who writes?
Yep, like Bartleby!
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