A person whose job is to make copies of documents, manuscripts, or artworks by hand; someone who imitates or copies others.
From copy + -ist (one who practices or specializes in); dates to at least the 15th century, though the role existed much earlier with medieval scribes.
Before printing presses, copyists were the unsung infrastructure of civilization—medieval monks copying biblical texts, Renaissance copyists reproducing classical texts that might otherwise have vanished forever, and every error they made could perpetuate through history.
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