To say words aloud for someone to write down, or to give orders that must be followed without question.
From Latin 'dictare,' meaning to say repeatedly or dictate, from 'dicere' (to say). Roman orators would dictate letters to scribes.
Before recording technology, dictating to a scribe was how famous people got their words preserved—this is why so many ancient texts and important documents were literally spoken into existence, making the relationship between speaking and writing central to human knowledge.
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