Amanuensis#Uses

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In ancient Rome, an amanuensis (Latin āmanuēnsis, “secretary”, from ab-, “from” + manus, “hand”{{Citation |title=amanuensis |date=2023-03-17 |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=amanuensis&oldid=72027117 |work=Wiktionary |access-date=2023-08-07 |language=en}}) 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,Susan Treggiari, "Jobs for Women", American Journal of Ancient History 1 (1976), p. 78. and were among the higher-status slaves in ancient Rome who were considered to add value{{Cite journal |last=Forbes |first=Clarence A. |date=1955 |title=Supplementary Paper: The Education and Training of Slaves in Antiquity |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/283628 |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |volume=86 |pages=341 |doi=10.2307/283628 |jstor=283628|url-access=subscription }} to their masters' lives rather than serving as mere instruments of production.{{Citation |last=Stagl |first=Jakob Fortunat |title=Favor libertatis: Slaveholders as Freedom Fighters |date=2023-03-06 |work=The Position of Roman Slaves |page=229 |editor-last=Schermaier |editor-first=Martin |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/63513/9783110987195.pdf?sequence=1#page=212 |access-date=2024-08-19 |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110987195-008 |isbn=978-3-11-098719-5 |url-access= |doi-access=free}} Literary slaves had certain privileges under the law and could be manumitted at a younger age.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.

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.Eileen Gardiner, introduction to Medieval Visions of Heaven and Hell: A Sourcebook (Garland, 1993), p. xxvi. 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.Rory G. Critten, Author, Scribe, and Book in Late Medieval English Literature (D. S. Brewer, 2018), p. 77. 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.William Provost, "The English Religious Enthusiast", in Medieval Women Writers (University of Georgia Press, 1984), p. 297. 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.{{Cite journal |last=Holdsworth |first=C. J. |date=1963 |title=Visions and Visionaries in the Middle Ages |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24406066 |journal=History |volume=48 |issue=163 |page=150 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1963.tb02314.x |jstor=24406066 |issn=0018-2648|url-access=subscription }} 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.Diane Cady, "Issues of Sexuality, Gender and Ethnicity", in The Medieval British Literature Handbook (Continuum, 2009), p. 207.

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.jyu.fi/yliopistopalvelut/opiskelijoille/glossary/amanuenssi|title=Amanuenssi|work=jyu.fi|access-date=2013-12-15|archive-date=2013-12-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215205918/https://www.jyu.fi/yliopistopalvelut/opiskelijoille/glossary/amanuenssi|url-status=dead}}

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.[http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Handlanger Handlanger, der] at duden.de

In French, the term "Écrivain Public" (Public Writer) help people to write personal or professional things according to the client.{{Cite web |title=écrivain public |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/%C3%A9crivain-public |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240819011849/https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/french-english/%C3%A9crivain-public?__cf_chl_rt_tk=1zBmA0yRKPySxNQhPoXaVdYWjXEdxIuu9UDVkdwkTtw-1724030329-0.0.1.1-5310 |archive-date=2024-08-19 |website=Collins French-English Dictionary}}

• Scrivener

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• Deissmann, G. Adolf. Bible Studies. Trans. Alexander Grieve. 1901. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1988.
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• 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.
• {{cite journal |last=Robson |first=E. Iliff |title=Composition and Dictation in New Testament Books |journal=Journal of Theological Studies |volume=18 |year=1917 |pages=288–301}}
• 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.

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