scriptorium

English

WOTD – 24 November 2012, 24 November 2014

Etymology

From Medieval Latin scrīptōrium, from Latin scrīptōrius (“pertaining to writing”). Doublet of escritoire.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /skɹɪpˈtɔː.ɹɪəm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /skɹɪpˈtɔɹ.i.əm/
• Hyphenation: scrip‧to‧ri‧um

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

scriptorium (plural scriptoria or scriptoriums)

1. (countable) A room set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of manuscripts and records, especially such a room in a monastery.
   • 1912, G[ilbert] Roger Hudleston, “Scriptorium”, in edited by Charles G[eorge] Herbermann, Edward A[loysius] Pace, Condé B[enoist] Pallen, Thomas J[oseph] Shahan, and John J[oseph] Wynne, The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church, volume XIII (Revelation–Simon Stock), New York, N.Y.: Robert Appleton Company, →OCLC, page 635, column 1:

     The rules of the scriptorium varied in different monasteries, but artificial light was forbidden for fear of injury to the manuscripts, and silence was always enforced.

   • 2008, James Ronald Royse, chapter 7, in Scribal Habits in Early Greek New Testament Papyri, page 499:

     Nevertheless, Aland criticized Martin's suggestion that the codex was the product of the scriptorium attached to a monastery,⁵³⁶ on the grounds that there is no evidence for the existence of monasteries in the year 200, or for the existence of scriptoria at all connected with the Church at that early date.

   • 2009, Fred S. Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective, 13th edition, volume 1, page 289:

     Among the earliest Hiberno-Saxon illuminated manuscripts is the Book of Durrow, a Gospel book that may have been written and decorated in the monastic scriptorium at Iona, although its provenance is not documented.

Related terms

• scribe
• script

Translations

room set aside for the copying, writing, or illuminating of manuscripts

• Belarusian: скрыпторый m (skryptóryj)
• Catalan: escriptori (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 寫字間／写字间 (zh) (xiězìjiān), 撰經閣／撰经阁 (zhuànjīnggé)

• Czech: skriptorium n
• Dutch: scriptorium (nl) n, schrijfzaal f
• Finnish: kirjoitushuone, scriptorium
• French: scriptorium (fr) m
• Georgian: სკრიპტორიუმი (sḳriṗṭoriumi)
• German: Skriptorium (de) n
• Indonesian: skriptorium
• Japanese: 写字室 (しゃじしつ, shajishitsu)
• Lithuanian: skriptoriumas m
• Macedonian: писарница f (pisarnica), скрипториум m (skriptorium)
• Polish: skryptorium (pl) n
• Romanian: scriptorie f
• Russian: скрипторий (ru) m (skriptorij)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: скрѝпто̄рӣј m

  Roman: skrìptōrīj (sh) m

• Slovak: skriptórium n
• Slovene: skriptorij m
• Spanish: scriptorium
• Swedish: skriptorium (sv) n, scriptorium (sv) n
• Thai: โรงเขียนหนังสือ (rohng kĭan năng-sĕu)
• Ukrainian: скрипто́рій (uk) m (skryptórij)
• Welsh: sgriptoriwm m
• West Frisian: skriptoarium n

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scrīptōrium.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌskrɪpˈtoː.ri.ʏm/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: scrip‧to‧ri‧um
• Rhymes: -oːriʏm

Noun

scriptorium n (plural scriptoria)

1. scriptorium (place where manuscripts are produced)

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin scrīptōrium. Doublet of écritoire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /skʁip.tɔ.ʁjɔm/

Noun

scriptorium m (plural scriptoria)

1. a scriptorium

Further reading

• “scriptorium”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Etymology

From scrīptor (“writer, author”) +‎ -ium or equivalently, scrībō (“to write”) +‎ -tōrium (suffix forming nouns denoting places).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /skriːpˈtoː.ri.um/, [s̠kriːpˈt̪oːriʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /skripˈto.ri.um/, [skripˈt̪ɔːrium]

Noun

scrīptōrium n (genitive scrīptōriī or scrīptōrī); second declension

1. writing desk
2. writing room

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	scrīptōrium	scrīptōria
genitive	scrīptōriī scrīptōrī1	scrīptōriōrum
dative	scrīptōriō	scrīptōriīs
accusative	scrīptōrium	scrīptōria
ablative	scrīptōriō	scrīptōriīs
vocative	scrīptōrium	scrīptōria

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Related terms

• scrība
• scrībātus
• scrīnium
• scrīptilis
• scrīptiō
• scrīptiōnālis
• scrīptitō
• scrīptiuncula
• scrīptor
• scrīptōrius
• scrīptula
• scrīptum
• scrīptūra
• scrīptūriō
• scrīptus

 

Descendants

Inherited

• Italian: scrittoio
• French: écritoire

Borrowed

• → Catalan: escriptori
• → Italian: scrittorio
• → Portuguese: escritório
• → Romanian: scriptoriu
• → Spanish: escritorio

Adjective

scrīptōrium

1. inflection of scrīptōrius:
   1. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter singular
   2. accusative masculine singular

References

• scriptorium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• scriptorium in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)