People who write or copy documents by hand, especially in ancient times before printing; or religious scholars in the Bible.
From Latin 'scribere' meaning 'to write.' In ancient times, scribes were highly valued professionals who recorded laws, religious texts, and official documents before printing was invented.
Scribes were basically the computer programmers of the ancient world—they held massive power because they controlled information, and their handwriting had to be perfect or laws and sacred texts would be wrong!
Scribal professions were male-dominated clergy/bureaucratic roles; women scribes are historically underdocumented, written out of institutional records.
Use without modifier; research and credit female scribes (medieval women monastics, Islamic scholars).
["scribe (use as-is with inclusive practice)","clerk"]
Women scribes in medieval monasteries and Islamic centers preserved and transmitted knowledge; their intellectual contributions are vastly under-chronicled.
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