Lector is
Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a
loan, such as french: lecteur, en, lector, pl, lektor and russian: лектор. It has various specialized uses.
Academic
The title ''lector'' may be applied to
lecturer
Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
s and
readers at some universities. There is also the title ''lector jubilate'', which is an equivalent of
Doctor of Divinity
A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity.
In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
. In language teaching at universities in
Britain, a foreign native speaker of a
Slavic language is often called a ''lektor'' or ''lector''. In Dutch higher education the title lector is used for the leader of a research group at a university of applied science. The lector has a comparable set of tasks as (higher ranked) full professors at a (research) university, albeit at an applied rather than a fundamental scientific level.
Ecclesiastical
A religious
reader is sometimes referred to as a ''lector''. The lector proclaims the Scripture readings used in the Liturgy from the official
liturgical book (
lectionary
A lectionary ( la, lectionarium) is a book or listing that contains a collection of scripture readings appointed for Christianity, Christian or Judaic worship on a given day or occasion. There are sub-types such as a "gospel lectionary" or evang ...
).
Television
In
Polish, ''lektor'' is also used to mean "off-screen reader" or "voice-over artist". A ''lektor'' is a (usually male) reader who provides the Polish
voice-over on foreign-language programmes and films where the
voice-over translation technique is used. This is the standard
localization technique on Polish television and (as an option) on many DVDs; full
dubbing is generally reserved for children's material.
Cigar production
Historically, lectors (known as ''lectores'' in Cuba)
or readers in a
cigar factory
The Cigar Factory is a building on the National Historical Register. Located at 701 East Bay Street, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, it was constructed in 1881 and opened in 1882 as the Cotton Mill of Charleston. In 1912, it was purchased by t ...
entertained workers by reading books or newspapers aloud, often left-wing publications, paid for by unions or by workers pooling their money. In the United States, the custom was common in the cigar factories of
Ybor City
Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez-Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mainly ...
in
Tampa
Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
but was discontinued after the
Tampa cigar makers' strike of 1931 The Tampa cigar makers' strike of 1931 took place in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida in the months of November and December. Some strikers were jailed, "Lectors" were banned and there was a lockout. Following legal intervention, some workers returned to w ...
.
The practice apparently originated in Cuba, and is still known there today, where there were about 200 ''lectores'' as of 2010.
20 Jobs That Have Disappeared
, By Miranda Marquit, Main Street, thestreet.com, May 3, 2010.intangible cultural heritage
An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. Int ...
".The Count of Monte Cristo
''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. Li ...
''.
See also
*Proctor
Proctor (a variant of ''procurator'') is a person who takes charge of, or acts for, another.
The title is used in England and some other English-speaking countries in three principal contexts:
* In law, a proctor is a historical class of lawye ...
References
{{Lutheran Divine Service
Latin words and phrases