Amanuensis

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Andrew Taylor Still with his amanuensis Annie Morris, who is at a typewriter

An amanuensis (/əˌmænjuˈɛnsɪs/) is a person employed to write or type what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another. An amanuensis may also be a person who signs a document on behalf of another under the latter's authority.[1]

In some

examinations. Eric Fenby acted as an amanuensis in assisting the blind and paralysed composer Frederick Delius in writing down the notes that Delius dictated.[2]

History

Sarcophagus relief of Valerius Petronianus, with his slave holding writing tablets (4th century AD)

In ancient Rome, an amanuensis (Latin āmanuēnsis, “secretary”, from ab-, “from” + manus, “hand”[3]) was a slave or freedperson who provided literary and secretarial services such as taking dictation and perhaps assisting in composition. Amanuenses were typically Greek, might be either male or female,[4] and were among the higher-status slaves in ancient Rome who were considered to add value[5] to their masters' lives rather than serving as mere instruments of production.[6] Literary slaves had certain privileges under the law and could be manumitted at a younger age.[7]

Apostle Paul, though literate in Greek, made use of an amanuensis.[9]

Amanuenses played an extensive role in medieval writing and the dissemination of texts.

Petrus of Alvastra (aka Peter Olafsson) wrote down the visions of Bridget of Sweden as she recounted them in Swedish, and then translated them into Latin.[14]

Other uses

In Finland, an amanuenssi is an administrative employee of a university, research institution or museum. In Finnish universities, amanuenses can be involved with student guidance counseling, organising course activities, etc.[15]

Job titles

A similar term, Handlanger, exists in German and Dutch (nowadays in both Dutch and German its negative connotation of an unscrupulous, low person acting as criminal assistant prevails whereas the original use of this term for an unskilled and possibly also illiterate person assisting, in the literal sense of lending a hand at construction works has become rather rare).[16]

In French, the term "Écrivain Public" (Public Writer) help people to write personal or professional things according to the client.

Notes

  1. ^ Oxford English Dictionary 3rd ed. (2003)
  2. ^ Eric Fenby (1936) Delius as I Knew Him, G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., London
  3. ^ "amanuensis", Wiktionary, 2023-03-17, retrieved 2023-08-07
  4. ^ Susan Treggiari, "Jobs for Women," American Journal of Ancient History 1 (1976), p. 78.
  5. ^ Clarence A. Forbes,"The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity," Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 86 (1955), p. 341.
  6. ^ Jakob Fortunat Stagl, "Favor libertatis: Slaveholders as Freedom Fighters," in The Position of Roman Slaves: Social Realities and Legal Differences (De Gruyter, 2023), p. 229
  7. ^ W. Martin Bloomer, “Schooling in Persona: Imagination and Subordination in Roman Education,” Classical Antiquity 16:1 (1997), p. 76, n. 44, citing K. Bradley, Slaves and Masters in the Roman Empire (1984), p. 92, with reference to Gaius, Institutes 1.19; 39.
  8. ^ Myles McDonnell, "Writing, Copying, and Autograph Manuscripts in Ancient Rome," Classical Quarterly 46:2 (1996), p. 473.
  9. ^ Chris Keith, "'In My Own Hand': Grapho-Literacy and the Apostle Paul," Biblica 89:1 (2008), pp. 39-58.
  10. ^ Eileen Gardiner, introduction to Medieval Visions of Heaven and Hell: A Sourcebook (Garland, 1993), p. xxvi.
  11. ^ Rory G. Critten, Author, Scribe, and Book in Late Medieval English Literature (D. S. Brewer, 2018), p. 77.
  12. ^ William Provost, "The English Religious Enthusiast," in Medieval Women Writers (University of Georgia Press, 1984), p. 297.
  13. ^ C. J. Holdsworth, "Visions and Visionaries in the Middle Ages," History 48:163 (1963), p. 150.
  14. ^ Diane Cady, "Issues of Sexuality, Gender and Ethnicity," in The Medieval British Literature Handbook (Continuum, 2009), p. 207.
  15. ^ "Amanuenssi". jyu.fi. Archived from the original on 2013-12-15. Retrieved 2013-12-15.
  16. ^ Handlanger, der at duden.de

Further reading

External links

Look up amanuensis in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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