Scribe
Scribe names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Scribe among the Jews
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
among the Jews, originally a kind of military of ficer, whose business appears to have been the recruiting and organizing of troops, the levying of war-taxes, and the like. Later the Hebrew name sofer seems to have been especially bestowed on a copyist of the law books. After the exile, under Ezra, apparently the copyist became more and more an expounder of the law. In Christ's time the name had come to designate a learned man, a doctor of the law. Christ himself recognizes scribes as a legal authority (Matt. xxiii. 2); they were the preservers of traditions, and formed a kind of police in the Temple and synagogues, together with the high priest; and the people reverenced them, or were expected to reverence them, in an eminent degree. They were to be found all over the country of Palestine, and occupied the rank and profession of both lawyers and theologians. Their public field of action was probably threefold: they were either assessors of the Sanhedrim, or public teachers, or administrators and lawyers. Many of these teachers had special al class-rooms somewhere in the Temple of Jerusalem, where the pupils destined to the calling of a rabbi sat at their feet. The calling of a scribe being gratuitous, it was incumbent on every one of them to learn and to exercise some trade. As a rule they were PHARISEES (q. v.), and zealous to keep the law pure from any foreign influence. Among famous scribes are to be reckoned Hillel, Shammai, and Gamaliel.
Scribe in the modern sense
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
in the modern sense, one skilled in penmanship. Other meanings are a writer or recorder of events, a reporter, a secretary, a copyist, and even a notary. In the Middle Ages the scribe carried an inkhorn, a bunch of quills, a penknife, sealing-wax, and paper or parchment, and other necessities of his profession. When the family desired a letter written or a document drawn up the scribe or notary came with his kit like a shoemaker, and, having completed his work, he repacked his portfolio and took his departure. Men of position and large affairs employed a secretary continuously. The family names of Clerke, Clark, Scriver, and Scriber are derived, no doubt, like Carpenter and Smith, from the occupation of some ancestor skillful with the pen.
Scribe AUGUSTIN EUGÈNE (skrēb)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
AUGUSTIN EUGÈNE (skrēb), a French dramatist; born in Paris, Dec. 24, 1791. For nearly 40 years he was the most conspicuous playwright living. His collected "Œuvres" (76 vols., issued 1874-1885) contain all his works, which include novels as well as plays. Among his best - known plays are: " Valeria " Climate exercises ( 1822); " The Glass of Water " ( 1840); " Adrienne Lecouvreur " ( 1849); " The Queen of Navarre ( 1850) ,; " The Ladies ' Battle " (1851); and "Fairy Fingers" (1858): the last three with Legouvé. He also wrote "Fra Diavolo," "Robert the Devil," "The Huguenots," "The Prophet," "La Favorita," and many other well-known librettos. He died in Paris, Feb. 20, 1861.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's 1921 sketch of the Jewish sofer rests on the sources then available; the Dead Sea Scrolls, found at Qumran from 1947, put actual Second Temple manuscripts and scribal habits in front of scholars for the first time, and specialists now treat the old equation of scribes with Pharisees, and the neat threefold division of their duties, as much looser than the entry suggests. Aiton's 1910 scribe with his inkhorn, quills and penknife has been finished off twice over, by the typewriter and then by the computer, though the term revived after 2010 in a wholly new form: the medical scribe who types a physician's notes into an electronic health record during the consultation. The one place the craft survives intact is religious: a Jewish sofer still hand-letters Torah scrolls with quill and parchment much as described. As for Augustin Eugene Scribe, "the most conspicuous playwright living" for forty years, his plays have almost vanished from the stage while his librettos for "Les Huguenots," "Fra Diavolo" and "La Favorita" are still sung, and his name survives in the critical term "the well-made play."
Written for this edition, 2026.