Førsteamanuensis

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

In some academic contexts, an amanuensis can assist an injured or disabled person in taking written examinations. Eric Fenby acted as such in assisting the blind and paralysed composer Frederick Delius in writing down the notes he dictated.

History

In ancient Rome, an amanuensis (Latin ''āmanuēnsis'', “secretary”, from ''ab-'', “from” + ''manus'', “hand”) 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, and were among the higher-status slaves in ancient Rome who were considered to add value to their masters' lives rather than serving as mere instruments of production. Literary slaves had certain privileges under the law and could be manumitted at a younger age.

Amanuenses played an extensive role in medieval writing and the dissemination of texts. Visionaries in particular relied on amanuenses to translate their experiences into written form. One question in studies of the Christian mystic Margery Kempe, not known to have received a formal education, is the extent to which her amanuenses shaped her self-titled book, completed in 1438. The work of the amanuensis when the author was minimally or not literate likely involved taking dictation, reading back, getting feedback from the author for revision, and possibly shaping the text further during transcription. An amanuensis might bring literary polish to visionary experience, as Adam of Eynsham, for instance, is thought to have drawn on the underworld book of the ''Aeneid'' to shape the "rather rambling and confused" visions of his brother Edmund. An amanuensis might act as a translator as well as transcriber. For example, 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.

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.

Job titles

A similar term, ''Handlanger'', exists in German and Dutch. In current times, 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.

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

See also

*Scrivener

Notes

Further reading

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* Deissmann, G. Adolf. ''Bible Studies''. Trans. Alexander Grieve. 1901. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1988.
* Doty, William G. ''Letters in Primitive Christianity''. Guides to Biblical Scholarship. New Testament. Ed. Dan O. Via Jr. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988.
* Gamble, Harry Y. “Amanuensis.” ''Anchor Bible Dictionary''. Vol. 1. Ed. David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992.
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* Longenecker, Richard N. “Ancient Amanuenses and the Pauline Epistles.” ''New Dimensions in New Testament Study''. Eds. Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C. Tenney. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974. 281–97. idem, “On the Form, Function, and Authority of the New Testament Letters.” ''Scripture and Truth''. Eds. D.A. Carson and John D. Woodbridge. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983. 101–14.
* Murphy-O’Connor, Jerome. ''Paul the Letter-Writer: His World, His Options, His Skills''. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 1995.
* Richards, E. Randolph. ''The Secretary in the Letters of Paul''. Tübingen: Mohr, 1991. idem, “The Codex and the Early Collection of Paul’s Letters.” ''Bulletin for Biblical Research'' 8 (1998): 151–66. idem, ''Paul and First-Century Letter Writing: Secretaries, Composition, and Collection''. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2004.
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* Stowers, Stanley K. ''Letter Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity''. Library of Early Christianity. Vol. 8. Ed. Wayne A. Meeks. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1989.
* Wall, Robert W. “Introduction to Epistolary Literature.” ''New Interpreter’s Bible''. Vol. 10. Ed. Leander E. Keck. Nashville: Abingdon, 2002. 369–91.

External links

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Domestic work
Office and administrative support occupations