Dear Doctor
In our English lesson we were examining the Latin word ‘amanuensis’. What is your view as to its meaning?
Than You
J
Dear J
Thank you for your very interesting email. Years ago, when I was involved with formal academia (frequenting colleges and universities) the function of “amanuensis” was fairly common. I am not sure if this is the case today – as I am engaged in a broad post-doctorate study that involves researching in (and from) various sources of data. Generally, this is termed “field work”, etc, and can involve much travelling – but with the advent of the internet means that “without going out of my room – I can know all things” – to quote the Book of Change. I often find that examining the Chinese-language equivalent of Western words can give an important insght into the historical meaning of these terms. Therefore, the Latin term “amanuensis” in the Chinese-language is rendered as:
秘書 (Mi Shu)
This translates as:
秘 (mi4) = to keep “secret” and “confidential”
書 (shu1) = a form of written (or printed) Chinese-language text
a) “Secretary” (person who does clerical work)
b) “historical title” for an official in charge of reports to the throne as well as imperial correspondence and (dictated) directives
For the Chinese-language – this implies an “authoritative handling” of official (written and dictated) texts.
As for the Latin foundation of the word “amanuensis” – we have:
Ab = from, of
Manus = hand
Ensis = use of (in situe)
amanuensis – “of the hand used in-place”
In other words, the “use of the hand” performing a “specific function” – the copying of texts or the writing-down of dictated texts. I know that visually impaired students sometimes made use of an “amanuensis” – as did those with hearing issues. However, I think that scholars occupyiing relatively high ranks in academia may possess an “amanuensis” as an indication of status. Some well-financed academic departments employ an effective “division of labour” – which means that very good quality work can be produced as a group-effort – in a very short-time. When an academic works on their own – or from a more humble position – we must perform all these functions ourself. We become very good at multi-tasking and something of a jack of all trades. Our aim is to “equal in quality” – that work produced in quick-time by those who can afford an “amanuensis”. The difference is that our work takes longer to produce due to a lack of “division of labour”. Quality must be maintained regardless of the difficulty of local conditions. All efforts are directed into conveying a sound meaning to the reader. As William Tyndale said – “Our language is our only homeland”.
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 