# What is the meaning of the word scrivener? **URL:** \ **Category:** Writer's Block\ **Created:** [March 27, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878 "2024-03-27T20:20:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rlilloy](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/rlilloy/32/18162_2.png) [@rlilloy](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/rlilloy)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:20pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/1 "2024-03-27T20:20:55Z")
what is the meaning of the word scrivener? ---
**Author:** ![Jestar](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jestar/32/139_2.png) [@Jestar](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Jestar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:24pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/2 "2024-03-27T20:24:54Z")
A **scrivener** (or **[scribe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scribe)** ) was a person who could [read and write](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy) or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or [copying](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copying) written material. - From Wikipedia ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:28pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/3 "2024-03-27T20:28:05Z")
It dates back from the time when people were handling conflicts by fencing in the streets. From the French word _“escrime”_ (fencing), inspired by the fact that back then people were also often leaving graffities on the stone walls, using the tip of their foil. (Jestar’s reply above is obviously made up. Just sayin’.) ---
**Author:** ![November\_Sierra](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/november_sierra/32/41086_2.png) [@November\_Sierra](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/November_Sierra)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:31pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/4 "2024-03-27T20:31:27Z")
Kind of like Zorro, but with more letters. ---
**Author:** ![Jestar](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/jestar/32/139_2.png) [@Jestar](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Jestar)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2024, 8:34pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/5 "2024-03-27T20:34:03Z")
Made up? I’m lucky to spell my own name most days. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pigfender](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/pigfender/32/41526_2.png) [@pigfender](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/pigfender)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2024, 10:06am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/6 "2024-04-02T10:06:55Z")
> [@rlilloy](#): > > what is the meaning of the word scrivener? As everyone knows, @KB is a genius who loves both writing software and word puzzles. As such he chose the name “Scrivener” because it (a) means “writer” but also because (b) “Literature and Latte Scrivener” is an anagram of “unilateral inverted scatterer” which describes what Scrivener was invented to do… i.e., to be the only software out there that makes it easy to put order to your scattered literary musings. Or maybe I dreamt that. 🤷‍♂️ ---
**Author:** ![MaelduinTamhlacht](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/maelduintamhlacht/32/16618_2.png) [@MaelduinTamhlacht](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/MaelduinTamhlacht)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2024, 10:00am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/7 "2024-11-05T10:00:17Z")
A 9th-century poem about a scrivener in Old Irish, translated by the 20th-century poet Robin Flower. It was written in a notebook by an Irish monk at or near Reichenau Abbey. Pangur Bán I and Pangur Bán, my cat, ’Tis a like task we are at; Hunting mice is his delight, Hunting words I sit all night. Better far than praise of men ’Tis to sit with book and pen; Pangur bears me no ill-will, He, too, plies his simple skill. ’Tis a merry thing to see At our tasks how glad are we, When at home we sit and find Entertainment to our mind. Oftentimes a mouse will stray In the hero Pangur’s way; Oftentimes my keen thought set Takes a meaning in its net. 'Gainst the wall he sets his eye Full and fierce and sharp and sly; 'Gainst the wall of knowledge I All my little wisdom try. When a mouse darts from its den, O! how glad is Pangur then; O! what gladness do I prove When I solve the doubts I love. So in peace our task we ply, Pangur Bán, my cat, and I; In our arts we find our bliss, I have mine, and he has his. Practice every day has made Pangur perfect in his trade; I get wisdom day and night, Turning darkness into light. The page on which the original appears, from Wikipedia: [Pangur Bán - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangur_B%C3%A1n#/media/File:Reichenauer_Schulheft_1v_2r_kl1.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![SCN](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/scn/32/37507_2.png) [@SCN](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/SCN)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/what-is-the-meaning-of-the-word-scrivener/139878/8 "2025-09-22T15:04:19Z")
> [@rlilloy](#): > > what is the meaning of the word scrivener? This made me cringe. In law school, to be called a “scrivener” was the ultimate insult that a professor could make to a student. It was usually delivered thus: “Mr. Smith, if you cannot tell me what the holding of the [XYZ case] was, then at least be a scrivener and write this down…” Fortunately, I can recall only a couple of times when this happened, but they were memorable. And no, I’m not thinking of the fictional Professor Kingsfield of Harvard in the _Paper Chase_ film and TV series, though I imagine some of my law professors got some ideas from this character. Fortunately, my positive experience with Scrivener-the-software has largely changed my dread of the word. 🙂