scrivener:
(plural: ‘scriveners‘; for the right pronunciation of this word, please click here)
a scrivener/scribe, in the past at work
(in the past) a person who wrote important documents and made copies of them by hand as a job; a scribe;
a person who made copies of books by hand; an employee who made copies and kept records of transactions in an office, like a clerk; a copyist;
(in the present) a person who wrote letters, official documents, deeds, etc. for those who cannot write, usually as a job;
a notary,
a modern day religious scrivener/copyist
Until recently, and probably still, there used to be at least one scrivener in every village who wrote letters and read out letters, wrote official documents for illiterate people of the village.
In the past a well-to-do Lawyer used to appoint a couple of scriveners to keep the deeds and documents in order and to copy court and registration office documents so that copies could be given to the parties involved.
Before the invention of the printing press, all most all the official documents, deeds, court claims and even letters of rich and affluent people were written by scriveners knew how to draft a document or court claim or even a pleasing letter to loved ones!
