AMANUENSIS

PRONUNCIATION: (uh-man-yoo-EN-sis)

MEANING: noun: A person employed to take dictation or to copy manuscripts.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin servus a manu (slave at hand[writing]), from manus (hand). Ultimately from the Indo-European root man- (hand), which also gave us manual, manage, maintain, manicure, maneuver, manufacture, manuscript, command, manque, legerdemain, manumit, and mortmain. Earliest documented use: 1619.

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WAMANUENSIS - Would you believe there was a time when the very thought of a female taking dictation or copying manuscripts could be the subject of feeble attempts at humor?!

AMANUNSIS - proud declaration to her sibling, by a pious novice home from the Convent for the first time